AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas men's basketball team have four starters returning and will play six of their first eight games on the road, opening the season on Monday against St. Thomas (TX) in Houston at 7 p.m.

The Tornados have eight players returning for the 2019-2020 season, including four starters in Zaid Harris, Spencer Bone, Philip Meikle and Christian Hammett, who helped the team reach the conference tournament semifinals last year.

In the American Southwest Conference preseason poll, CTX earned 101 points and were picked to finish third in the west division. They will be looking to reach the ASC Tournament for eighth consecutive season.

Ronnie Hamilton and Meikle, meanwhile, were named to the players to watch list.

Hamilton and Meikle are two of the team's three seniors and are the only two four-year lettermen.

Hamilton was an ASC Honorable Mention last year for CTX after averaging nearly 10 points a game and led the team in assists with 107 on the season. He made 22 starts for the Tornados and had his lone double-double of the season against Belhaven back on Jan. 5, pouring in 22 points and 10 assists.

Meikle, meanwhile, will look to fill the void left by last season's ASC West Player of the Year Joe Neal. The Cypress, Texas native missed eight games last year due to injury but still finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points a game. Meikle produced two 30-plus point games last season, including a career-high 37-point performance against Mary Hardin-Baylor back on Feb. 9.

Spencer Bone will be another one of CTX's offensive weapons, becoming a 3-pointer threat in the second half of the season.

The Cibolo, Texas native, started in 15 of the team's final 16 games, shooting 48 percent from downtown and reached double figures nine times. Against Howard Payne on Jan. 26, Bone had his best collegiate performance of his career, knocking down 10 3-pointers and finishing with 36 points. For his season performance, he was named to the ASC West All-Freshman Team.

The Tornados will play five straight road games to begin the season, including four of them in the Pacific Northwest region, where they will face Lewis & Clark College, Pacific, No. 20 Whitman and Willamette. The team will have their home opener on Nov. 30, when they will play host to St. Thomas (TX).

Concordia Texas will open conference play against reigning ASC West champion Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas on Dec. 16, before returning home for a round-robin tournament, where they will face No. 3 North Central College and Illinois Wesleyan on Dec. 28-29. The team will then head into the rest of their conference schedule on Jan. 2, hosting reigning conference tournament UT Dallas.

The Tornados will look to reach the conference tournament for an eighth consecutive season and claim their first ASC Championship since 2013, opening the season on Monday against St. Thomas (TX) in Houston at 7 p.m.