2020 MEAC tournament schedule and results: North Carolina Central gets No. 1 seed

N.C. Central is the No. 1 seed in next week’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament, after beating rival North Carolina A&T 86-80 on Thursday in the regular-season finale.

The Eagles, along with the other top six seeds, receive a bye into Wednesday’s quarterfinals and will play their first game on that day at 6 p.m. against the winner of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. showdown between No. 8 Delaware State and No. 9 Maryland Eastern Shore.

Also on Tuesday, No. 7 South Carolina State plays No. 10 Howard at 8 p.m. The winner of that game advances to Wednesday’s quarterfinal with No. 2 N.C. A&T.

The other two quarterfinal games are on Thursday. In the first, No. 4 Bethune-Cookman faces No. 5 Morgan State at 6 p.m. The winner of that game plays the N.C. Central quarterfinal game winner in the semifinals on Friday at 6 p.m. The other quarterfinal pits No. 3 Norfolk State against No. 6 Coppin State at 8 p.m. Thursday. The winner of that game faces the N.C. A&T quarterfinal game winner in the semifinals on Friday at 8 p.m.

The tournament’s championship game is Saturday, March 14 at 1 p.m. and is televised on ESPN2.

The winner of the tournament gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. North Carolina Central has already guaranteed itself at least a bid into the NIT tournament by winning the league’s regular-season crown. Obviously, the Eagles will be gunning to upgrade to an NCAA tournament bid by winning the MEAC tournament.

THE SCHEDULE

TUESDAY (MARCH 10) -- FIRST ROUND

GAME 1 — No. 8 Delaware State vs. No. 9 Maryland Eastern Shore, 6 p.m.

GAME 2 — No. 7 South Carolina State vs. No. 10 Howard, 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY (MARCH 11) -- QUARTERFINALS

GAME 3 -- No. 1 North Carolina Central vs. Game 1 winner, 6 p.m.

GAME 4 -- No. 2 North Carolina A&T vs. Game 2 winner, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY (MARCH 12) -- QUARTERFINALS

GAME 5 -- No. 4 Bethune-Cookman vs. No. 5 Morgan State, 6 p.m.

GAME 6 -- No. 3 Norfolk State vs. No. 6 Coppin State, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (MARCH 13) -- SEMIFINALS

GAME 7 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6 p.m.

GAME 8 -- Game 4 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (MARCH 14) -- CHAMPIONSHIP

GAME 9 -- Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 1 p.m. (ESPN2)

This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 11:30 AM with the headline "2020 MEAC tournament schedule and results: North Carolina Central gets No. 1 seed."