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Â鶹´«Ã½ heads to Atlanta for NCAA tourney matchup

Â鶹´«Ã½ junior and senior guards Triston and Tyler Thompson load the team bus ahead of the scheduled departure time Thursday morning. Triston Thompson was voted to the SIAC Tournament All-Conference team. (Panther photo by Bradley Harris)

Atlanta is the newest destination for the 2017 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Â鶹´«Ã½ men’s basketball team as the Panthers travel to play in the Division ll Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Panthers are fresh off of a road trip to Alabama where they claimed the SIAC championship. Â鶹´«Ã½ departed from the Jonas T. Kennedy Center Thursday morning.

This will be the first time the Panthers will be in the tournament since the 2008-09 season. The Panthers are playing in the South Region of the tournament and are the #3 seed.

The opening round matchup will pit the Panthers against a very familiar opponent.

Clafin will face the sixth-seeded Clark Atlanta Panthers, a fellow SIAC school and a team they have faced three times this season.

The two schools faced off five days ago in Birmingham with the SIAC championship on the line.  Â鶹´«Ã½ came out with the conference crown, its first in program history. In their previous two meetings, the teams split games at home.

Â鶹´«Ã½ could also face another SIAC foe if they were to meet Morehouse in the third round. Morehouse is the #1 seed and host school of the region.

The Panthers will tip off at noon in the Forbes Arena on Saturday.