The Heartland Conference

Midwestern State is the nation’s number three team in the NCAA’s Division II and the Mustangs were hosting the South Central Regional Championships as the top seed.  Incarnate Word, seeded eighth, drew the short straw.

The Mustangs (29-2), the Lone Star Conference champions, came fast out of the gate and before a home sellout crowd of 3,100 got the Cardinals in an immediate hole from which UIW could never seem to climb to the top.  Incarnate Word got the game’s opening points on a layup by Chris Johnson but over the next six minutes MSU ran off to a 16-4 lead.

It was Saturday night, the game was tied, Incarnate Word had the ball for the final shot with five seconds remaining in regulation.  No problem.  It’s Eric Stewart time for the second consecutive Saturday.

The Cardinals (23-6) won the game 65-63 claiming their second consecutive Heartland Conference tournament title and their second consecutive trip to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament next weekend at a site to be determined.  To get to this final game, one night earlier UIW had to go to overtime to defeat number four seed Dallas Baptist 106-103 in the semi-finals.

Curtis Mitchell's steal and fast break layup with 44 seconds left sealed the victory as third-seeded St. Mary's University edged second-seeded Newman University, 74-72, in the semifinals of the Heartland Conference Tournament, held Friday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.

With the win St. Mary's improved to 17-12 this season, while Newman fell to 18-10. The Rattlers advance to the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship game against the University of the Incarnate Word, which will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena. The winner of the game advances to the NCAA South Central Region Tournament. The game will be broadcast live over the internet at CollegeTVTicket.com.

It's always difficult to defeat one team three times in a season and Friday it was overtime difficult but Incarnate Word did advance to the finals of the Heartland Conference championship tournament with a hard-fought decision over Dallas Baptist.

These two played twice in the regular season with UIW (22-6) winning both, the most recent just six days ago on a buzzer-beating three-point shot by Eric Stewart.  Then on Friday top-seeded Cardinals and the fourth-seeded Patriots (18-11) got to do it again.  This time UIW got a layup attempt at the regulation horn but no foul was called an extra five minutes went on the scoreboard clock.