REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
    The No. 17 Tarleton Texans will return to action in the first round of the 2011 South Central Region Tournament in Edmond, Okla. against Midwestern State on Saturday, March 12 at noon.

ON THE AIR
    The Texans' basketball games are broadcast via the Tarleton Athletics Radio Network and KSTV 93.1 FM.  The broadcasts can also be heard online at www.kstvfm.com. 
    Dr. Ron Newsome will bring the action to the fans on the TARN.
    The Live Stats will be brought to fans via the BronchoSports.com, but no live video is available.

SOUTH TITLE
    The Texans clinched sole possession at the LSC South Division title with the win at Midwestern State on Feb. 21.  The title is the men's fifth division championship (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2011).

TWENTY-WIN SEASONS
    The Texans have claimed 12 20-win seasons under head coach Lonn Reisman.  Tarleton has eight such seasons in the last 10 seasons, dating back to 2001-02.

TARLETON=BASKETBALL
    Out of 275 NCAA Division II basketballs schools, the Tarleton Texans and TexAnns are one of just six schools that are on top of their respective conference standings.  The Texans are atop the South Division men's standings while the TexAnns are atop their standings as well.
        The other schools are Bentley, Drury, Bloomfield, Quincy and Arkansas Tech.

BASKETBALL 2
    The two Tarleton teams are a combined 48-9 this season, and they have the best combined winning percentage in the South Central region (.854).  Heading into the week, Central Oklahoma is second with an .807 percentage (48-12), followed by Missouri Southern with a .778 winning percentage this season (43-13).

WINNING PERCENTAGE
    Tarleton's combined winning percentage of .842 is third in the nation at the Division II level behind West Liberty (.904; 47-5) and Arkansas Tech (.900; 45-5).

NATIONAL RANKING
    Tarleton returned to the national poll a couple of weeks ago conducted by the National Basketball Coaches Association at No. 25 and moved up to No. 20 in the country last week before now being ranked No. 20.  Tarleton had been absent from the poll since the Dec. 7 release when Tarleton was No. 17.  Tarleton has gone 14-3 since being left off the next poll on Dec. 14

NATIONAL RANKING 2
    Tarleton is one of only three teams in the country with both their men's and women's basketball programs ranked in the Top 25.  The men are No. 15 and the women are No. 18 (highest-ever ranking).  The others are Arkansas Tech (men are No. 9; women are No. 4) and Bentley (men are No. 24; women are No. 20).

MAKING THE TOURNAMENT
    The Texans have the most appearances in the South Central Region Tournaments since the 2002 even with eight.  Central Oklahoma is second with seven and West Texas A&M, Northwest Missouri State and Central Missouri have each been to five during the last nine tournaments.  There have been 29 different teams make the South Central Region Tournament since the 2001-02 season.
    The Texans are tied for third in appearances in the nation in the tournament since 2002. Five schools have made the tournament nine years while three other schools have made eight of the last 10 regionals along with Tarleton.  There have been 186 teams make the NCAA playoffs from the 2001-02 season through the present tournament.

IN THE FIRST ROUND
    Tarleton is 6-1 in the first round of the regional tournaments.

TITLE CONTENDER
    Tarleton has made five trips to the regional final game in their seven trips thus far.  The Texans won the regional title in 2005 and 2006, advancing to back-to-back Elite Eights.

AGAINST THE FIELD
    The Texans have played all of the teams in this year's regional.
    The Texans are 0-1 against Midwestern State in regional action and 1-1 against Central Oklahoma in the tournament.
    Overall, however, the Texans are 21-37 against Midwestern State, 1-0 against Fort Hays State, 0-1 against Missouri Southern, 2-0 against Texas A&M-International, 15-21 against West Texas A&M, 0-1 against Washburn and 10-19 against Central Oklahoma.

PLAYING THE HEARTLAND
    Tarleton is 21-5 since the 2001-02 seasons against teams in the Heartland Conference.  Tarleton is 1-0 against HC teams this season and 9-2 in the last nine games over the last three-plus seasons.
    The Texans are 2-2 against Heartland teams in the regional tournament.

PLAYING THE MIAA
    Tarleton is 7-2 since the 2001-02 seasons against teams in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association.  Tarleton is 7-0 in the South Central Region tournaments against MIAA teams.

MAKING THE REGIONAL
    The Texans are the No. 3 seed in this year's regional with Central Oklahoma at No. 1 followed by No. 2 Missouri Southern.  After Tarleton, Fort Hays State, West Texas A&M, Midwestern State, Washburn and Texas A&M International complete the regional field.  TAMUI got an automatic bid into the tournament  for winning the Heartland Conference championship tournament last weekend.

WINNING IN THE POSTSEASON
    The Texans are 27-15 in the postseason since the 2001-02 season.

BRIDLING THE MUSTANGS
    Tarleton held Midwestern State to just 47 points – the fewest points scored by the Mustangs since Jan. 29, 2004 when they lost at home to Texas A&M-Commerce (57-46).

BRIDLING THE MUSTANGS... AGAIN
    Tarleton went on a 55-17 run over the last 23 minutes of the game to claim a 74-50 victory to advance to the LSC finals.  The Texans outscored MSU 41-12 in the second half after trailing 33-19 at the 3:21-mark of the first half.  Tarleton started a 32-6 run that put the Texans ahead 51-39 before the Mustangs got their first bucket of the second half at 12:36.
    Chris Hagan had 19 points in the first half on Saturday in the semifinal round, and Tarleton held him to two points in the second half.

HOLDING HAGAN
    Tarleton held MSU guard Chris Hagan, who is averaging over 20 points per game this season, to just six points in the second game between the two teams and 11 in game one (most of which came in the second half).

DEFENSE, DEFENSE
    The Tarleton defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation scoring defense, allowing opponents to score an average of 52.9 points per game heading into this week.  Tarleton is No. 6 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 38.4 percent from the field.
        Thanks to the defense, Tarleton has the No. 4 scoring margin in the country with a plus-17.5 margin.

TOPS AT ANY LEVEL
    The Texan defense is the number one scoring defense at any level of NCAA basketball – I, II or III.  The scoring defense is also better than either NAIA Division I or II or National Junior College Athletics Association Division I, II or III.

FORCING TURNOVERS
    Tarleton is forcing lots of turnovers this season, but giving away less.  The Texans are No. 7 in the nation in turnover margin with a 4.4 margin in favor of the purple and white.
        Part of turnovers is taking the ball away, and the Texans are No. 49 in the country in doing so, averaging 8.4 steals per game.

REBOUND THAT BALL
    Heading into this week, the Texans are No. 12 in the nation in rebound margin (6.8).  The Texans have outrebounded every foe this season except Cameron, Texas A&M-Commerce, Abilene Christian, West Texas A&M and Midwestern State.
        Tarleton is outrebounding opponents by an average of 36.2 to 29.3.

LEADING THE TEXANS
    Corin Henry leads the team with 14.3 points per outing.  Devon Hills (7.3) is second in scoring.  Wes Dipprey leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game while Donta Smith is second with 4.3 boards per outing.  Henry tops the squad with 52 steals and 123 assists.
 
PASS IT HERE
    Corin Henry has 256 career assists heading into tonight's contest.  He passed LaShon Sheffield (230, 2004-06 in 68 games) for No. 12 and needs five to tie No. 11 Freddie Pierce (261, 1982-86, 94 games).

OUTSCORING FOES
    The Texans are outscoring foes 70.4 to 52.9.  The Texans' biggest win of the season came against Arlington Baptist – 108-30 (78 points).  The smallest margin of victory is four at home against Texas A&M-Commerce (70-66).

SHOOTING TEXANS
    The Texans are averaging .450 from the floor, .357 from the arc and .674 from the charity stripe while holding opponents to .384 from the field, .319 from the arc and .616 from the line.

NOW ON SPECIAL
    Tarleton is outscoring opponents in points off turnovers (20.6 to 12.3) and points in the paint (30.3 to 19.3). 

OFF THE BENCH
    Tarleton is averaging 29.6 points per game off of the bench this season as the Texans are outscoring opponents from the bench by 12.7 points per game (16.9 for opponents).

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
    The Mustangs are 22-8 and are coming off a 74-50 loss to Tarleton in the LSC Tournament semifinals.
    Chris Hagan leads the team with 21.8 points per game followed by Michael Loyd with 12.4 points per outing.  Darrich Thomas tops the squad with 6.1 rebounds per outing while David Terrell is second on the team with 5.7 boards per game.
    The Mustangs are averaging .499 from the field, .374 from the arc and .621 from the line while opponents are shooting .417 from the floor, .304 from the arc and .675 from the charity stripe.  MSU is outscoring opponents 76.8 to 64.4 and outrebounding them 36.2 to 30.0 this season.

ALL-TIME SERIES
    The all-time series that started in 1961 is led by MSU, 37-21.  Tarleton has claimed all three games this season (68-56 in Stephenville on Feb. 5, 49-47 in Wichita Falls on Feb. 21 and 74-50 in Barltesville, Okla.).  Tarleton is 18-19 under head coach Lonn Reisman against the Mustangs, including a 1-1 record on a neutral court where Tarleton lost to MSU in the LSC Championships title game last season, 65-55, before defeating them in the semifinals this season, 74-50.

LAST TIME UP
    The Texans trailed Midwestern State by 14 with 3:21 seconds left in the first half on Saturday in Bartlesville, Okla. before going on a 55-17 run over the last 23 minutes of the game to claim a 74-50 victory to advance to the 2011 Lone Star Conference Championship final on Sunday.
    Tarleton (24-4) outscored MSU 41-12 in the second half as the nation's No. 1 scoring defense looked like it was going to give away more than its average to the opponent after allowing 38 points in the first half. However, the Texans held the Mustangs to just 50 points in the game – two points below the season average for Tarleton foes.
    Tarleton had trailed 33-19 at the 3:21-mark before the Texans started a 32-6 run that put Tarleton ahead 51-39 before the Mustangs got their first bucket of the second period at 12:36. The Mustangs were five-of-20 overall from the free throw line, including two-of-13 during the second half.
    Tarleton senior Corin Henry directed the comeback for Tarleton, tying his career-high 29 points to lead all scorers as Hagan finished with 21 points for MSU with just two points in the second period.

UP NEXT
    The winner of the game will play the winner of Missouri Southern and Washburn at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 13 in Edmond, Okla.
    The championship game is set for Tuesday, March 15 at 7 p.m.