BIRMINGHAM, AL- If you have ever met a past or present resident from Texas, you know that they can and will present themselves as individuals that believe that their state is the only one on the map. No matter if they are from a little small town like Hempstead or a metropolitan area like Houston, they feel like whatever state they are in it immediately transforms into Texas.

“You know in Texas, we do it this way,” is usually the initial phrase most citizens use to convey to the person they are talking to that they are from Texas.

On Saturday, the state of Alabama will witness what a true “Texas Takeover” looks like as the No. 1 seeded Prairie View A&M University will take on No. 3 seeded Texas Southern University in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Men’s Tournament Championship Game at 5 p.m. (CST) on ESPNU. The winner will advance to the Men’s NCAA Tournament.

Texas Southern (15-8) needed overtime against No. 2 Jackson State (12-6) to advance to the Championship Game. JSU suffered their first loss to a conference opponent this season after going 11-0 in the SWAC to share the regular season title with Prairie View A&M.

SWAC Newcomer of The Year and First Team All-SWAC selection Michael Weathers bounced back after scoring only 13 points in the quarterfinals against Alcorn State. Weathers led TSU in scoring with 30 points including the big three-point basket to send the game into overtime with no time on the clock. He was just as impressive in the overtime session scoring 9 out of the 11 total team points to give TSU an 84-81 victory over JSU.

Things were a little different in the second semifinal matchup between Prairie View (16-4) and Grambling State University (12-12) as the Tigers were determined to stop the dominance of the Panthers backcourt. They held All-SWAC selections Cam Mack and Jawaun Daniels to only 12 points combined for the game, but 2021 SWAC Coach of The Year Byron Smith displayed why he has compiled a 44-5 conference record of the last three season and won the aforementioned award the same number of times.

Knowing that the game plan by the Tigers was designed to stop Daniels and Mack, coach Smith began running the offense through other players such as junior guard Faite Williams (18 points) and senior forward Lenell Henry (18 points) to get the 75 -63 victory to advance to the championship game against in-state rival Texas Southern.

Saturday’s game is a rematch of the 2019 SWAC Tournament Finals between the two teams as Prairie View defeated Texas Southern by a score of 92-86 to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19.