BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - With the regular season now complete, Union College will look to capture lightning in a bottle as it will open up play in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday against No. 3 seed Montreat (N.C.) College.

After locking the No. 6 seed on Saturday, Union College had to wait a couple days to find out its opponent as there was a three-way tie for first place. With Tennessee Wesleyan College, Bluefield (Va.) College and Montreat all ending the year with identical 14-4 conference records, a coin flip was required to break the ties and to determine the seeds.

Bluefield (20-10 overall, 14-4 AAC) turned out to be the lucky one as it received the No. 1 seed, while Tennessee Wesleyan was declared the No. 2 seed with Montreat ending up third.

The pairing is not a favorable one for the Bulldogs (12-18 overall, 6-12 AAC) as they lost twice to the Cavaliers this season, dropping an 80-66 decision on Dec. 2 in Barbourville and an 85-66 contest on Jan. 23 at Montreat. However, Union is hoping that the third time will be the charm as the two will square off on Thursday at 12 p.m.

The tournament will begin Wednesday with No. 7 Covenant (Ga.) College (8-22 overall, 5-13 AAC) taking on No. 10 Virginia Intermont College (5-25 overall, 3-15 AAC) at 3 p.m. At 8 p.m., No. 8 UVa-Wise (7-23 overall, 4-14 AAC) will face No. 9 Bryan (Tenn.) College.

The Union-Montreat game kicks off Thursday's action. At 1:45, Tennessee Wesleyan will meet with the Covenant-Virginia Intermont winner, while No. 5 King (Tenn.) College (20-10 overall, 13-5 AAC) will face No. 4 Milligan (Tenn.) College (22-8 overall, 13-5 AAC) at 7 p.m. The day concludes with Bluefield squaring off against the UVa-Wise-Bryan winner.

The semifinal rounds will be held Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., while the championship game is set for Saturday at 6 p.m.

The tournament is being held in Bristol, Tenn., at King.

The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA Men's Basketball Division II Championship Tournament, which is set for March 7-13 in Point Lookout, Mo.