If all the bids had been decided last weekend for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, the University of Illinois Springfield would claim the 12th and final spot in the field via a tiebreaker.
In other words, the Prairie Stars are firmly on the bubble. UIS has three remaining regular-season conference games: No. 23 Lewis tonight, No. 25 Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday and McKendree on Feb. 27.
Seven of the 12 spots in the conference tourney already have been determined mathematically. UIS is tied with Quincy for the last spot, but the Prairie Stars win the tiebreaker due to a road victory over the Hawks in early January.
“The good thing is we control our own destiny,” UIS coach Ben Wierzba said. “Right now if we take care of business, we control it. We have to worry about ourselves.”
UIS takes an 8-15 overall record and 4-11 GLVC record into a rematch at Lewis.
The story was featured by The State Journal-Register on February 20, 2014.
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