Jacks headed to Cali

The Lumberjack Basketball team will travel to California Friday to take on the 49ers of Long Beach State in the 11^th annual Bracket Busters.

The game will start at 8 p.m. and will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

Bracket Busters is a two-day men’s college basketball event in which teams hoping to make the NCAA tournament compete against one another. The teams are selected from a pool of 122 teams from 15 mid-major conferences.

SFA assistant basketball coach Brette Tanner said, “It gives us a chance to play on national TV.”

Playing on national TV will provide the nation a glimpse of the SFA basketball program.

“It’s always good to get the SFA name out there,” Tanner said.

The coach reiterated the focus remains on the Sam Houston game, who the Jacks played last night in Huntsville, but he offered some insight on the upcoming match-up with the 49ers.

Long Beach State is 12-2 in the Big West and, according to Tanner, one thing that has made them successful is how athletic they are.

“They are extremely athletic and have more talent than anyone in their league,” he said. “The focus will be to play our style, defend and make them execute. They like to play fast, so we want to defend and limit their transition opportunities.”

Fans can look for the 49ers to be in Nacogdoches, as the home team in each match-up will play a return game at the visiting team’s home facility in November or December of the 2013-2014 season.