Panthers head to the SBC basketball championships

The men’s basketball team will face WKU to kick off the 2012 SBC Tournament. The women’s team, No. 3 seed in the east Division, will face Louisiana, No. 6 seed in the West Division.

FIU basketball is heading to Hot Springs, Ark., this weekend for the 2012 Sun Belt Conference (SBC) Championship.

On March 3, the women’s team will face Louisiana at 1 p.m., and the men will go head to head with the WKU Hilltoppers in the first round of the tournament at 9:30 p.m.

The Panthers brought their A-game in the regular season. Sophomore Jerica Coley is the 2012 SBC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, and was named to the All-SBC First Team. Her teammate Fanni Hutlassa was tabbed to the All-SBC Third Team.

Sophomore Jerica Coley became FIU's first-ever SBC Player of the Year. Photo courtesy of Alex J. Hernandez.

Coley reached double-digits in scoring in each of FIU’s 29 games and owns 21, 20-plus point outings in the season. The All-American hopeful tops the conference in scoring, blocks and minutes played. She also made her mark nationally, ranking third in the NCAA in scoring, 36th in free throw percentage and 41st in blocks.

On the men’s team, seniors Jeremy Allen and DeJuan Wright along with sophomore Phil Taylor earned all-conference honors for the season. Wright was named second-team all-conference, while Allen and Taylor made the third team.

DeJuan Wright, Jeremy Allen and Phil Taylor earned all-conference honors. Photo courtesy of Samuel Lewis and Richard Lewis

Wright, who leads the conference in scoring, averaging 16.4 points-per-game, finished the regular season with six double-doubles and five games of 20-or-more points. Most recently, he notched a career-high 35 points versus South Alabama, en route to the SBC Player of the Week honor Feb. 27.

As they prepare for game day, the Panthers are getting lots of local love.

Caren Bowen’s eighth-grade homeroom class at Fountain Lake Middle School is sponsoring FIU for the conference. “We want to really represent the spirit of your school,” said Bowen. The honorary Panthers have decorated their class with FIU posters, banners, stickers and spirit sticks.

Fountain Lake Middle School

For more information on the conference, visit FIUSports.com