3/3/2010 - Roadrunners Begin Conference Tournament Thursday Night

That the Angelina College Roadrunners are again participants to the Region XIV conference tournament is no real surprise. After all, they’ve punched their tickets to the big dance in each of the past five seasons.

The surprising – maybe miraculous – part of the story is that this team consisting of a single sophomore and a slew of freshmen far exceeded pre-season expectations and will again play for the opportunity to make the trip to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

Head coach Todd Neighbors and his assistants, Ed Williams and John Dillard – each of those new faces as well – spent an entire season experimenting with different lineups and rotations in search of consistency. And despite a pair of three-game losing streaks in the conference portion of the schedule, the ‘Runners (16-14, 10-9) managed to end the regular season as one of the true surprises in Region XIV, locking down the sixth seed in the tourney set to begin tonight at the University of Texas-Tyler. AC played some of its best basketball down the stretch, winning two of its final three games and playing extremely well in the one loss – a road trip to No. 3 seed San Jacinto.

All this after pre-season polls had AC finishing no better than fourth in the South Zone.
“From pretty much the beginning of the season, our guys bought in to what we were trying to do, and they focused more on being a team than being individuals,” Neighbors said on Wednesday. “They’re a very unselfish group, and they’re willing to go all out to make each other better. With that sort of attitude, it doesn’t really matter how young you are.”

AC opened the conference portion of the season by winning five of its first seven, including the game Neighbors said might have been his team’s turning point: A 64-56 win over Trinity Valley in Athens on Jan. 16th.

“I say that was our turning point just because it’s one of the toughest places to play in our league,” Neighbors said. “Our guys focused in defensively, and they bought into the fact that if we play solid defense and make stops, keep it a low-scoring game, we have a chance to win every time out.”

If they want to hang around for more than one tune, the Roadrunners will have to get past Lee College, a team with whom the ‘Runners split during the regular season. AC handled the Rebels 71-63 on Dec. 5th at Shands Gym in Lufkin, but fell on the road to Baytown, 92-74, on Feb. 17th.

Neighbors said the key to making it two wins out of three tries over the Rebels is as simple as playing Roadrunner basketball.

“The biggest thing for tonight is to just play our game, at our tempo, and try and force our style of play,” Neighbors said. “We need to play with a ton of confidence, and show we feel we belong on the big stage.”

Game time from UT-Tyler is 8 p.m. Fans can catch the web cast by logging onto www.angelina.edu and clicking on the “Athletics” link.

HANGING AROUND – Angelina College’s Antonio Holmes hangs on the rim for balance after slamming home an alley-oop during Saturday’s win over Tyler. The Roadrunners are hoping to hang round the Region XIV Conference Tournament opening tonight at UT-Tyler, with the ‘Runners taking on Lee College at 8 p.m.