ASC Men's Tournament Central
PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana College men's basketball team is postseason bound. The weight of that statement might not seem apparent, but given what the Wildcats have faced this season the fact that the team is bound for the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament this Friday in Belton, Texas, is nothing short of incredible.

LC (11-12) finished third in the ASC East Division and will face Hardin-Simmons (19-6), the No. 2 team in the west Division, at 2:30 on Friday. It will be the first postseason appearance for the LC men since 2008.

A berth of any sort seemed unlikely at times this season.

The Wildcats started the season 4-1 before losing seven in a row. Then came an inconsistent series of weeks and, two weeks ago, the temporary loss of longtime coach Gene Rushing, who was hospitalized during a road trip due to complications arising from a hernia.

“It's been an up-and-down year, that is for sure,” senior post Korey Salmon said. “We went through the big losing streak. We lost some games we shouldn't have, but Coach Rushing kept telling us to fight through. As long as we found a way to get into the tournament, the rest didn't matter.”

The only member of the current LC team to have any postseason experience is Rushing himself.

When Salmon and fellow seniors Jarrod Jackson and Jelani Mitchell were freshmen, the Wildcats won just five games and in each of the last two seasons, Louisiana College has missed the postseason by one game.

“It's been a long time coming,” Mitchell said. “It's been a goal of ours every year. It feels great to finally be in.”

With an 8-12 record, their coach gone and their postseason hopes dwindling, the Wildcats rallied to win their last three games and earn an invitation to the ASC Tournament.

“I'm very, very proud of this team, particularly our seniors,” Rushing, now back on a full-time basis, said. “These seniors have been true leaders. They've worked four years to get to this point. We missed out on the conference tournament by one game the last two years and were determined to make it this year.

“We've been through a lot of ups and downs. We've had some big wins and suffered some tough losses. But through it all we stayed the course. We stayed positive and kept our focus. You're starting to see the result of that effort now at the end of the season.”

Last Thursday, with Louisiana College Athletic Director Darrell Payne serving as coach and former longtime women's coach Billy Brooks acting as assistant, the Wildcats upset East Texas Baptist.

On Saturday, with Rushing in attendance but Payne and Brooks still handling game-day coaching duties, LC logged a Senior Day win over Centenary.

On Monday, the Wildcats defeated Mississippi College 80-63 to complete the first season sweep of the Choctaws in school history.

“I guess it's just the brotherhood we've developed,” Mitchell, who averaged nine assists per game over the three-game winning streak, said. “We knew that if we just stuck together, everybody have everybody else's back, we can do anything. We trusted each other and found a way into the tournament. Now we have to find a way to carry this momentum forward into the tournament.”

Brotherhood, the basketball team as family, is something Rushing has always stressed.

“As their coach, I couldn't be prouder,” Rushing said. “I've never been any prouder of any group of young men. They stuck together through the worst times.”