Morgan Academy will face a familiar opponent Thursday when it opens up the AISA class 3A, region 2 tournament at Fort Dale Academy.

The Senators (8-14) boys will take on Fort Dale, a team they just defeated 58-53 in their final regular season game Saturday, at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will automatically qualify for the AISA Elite Eight, although the region tournament won’t end until Saturday night. The rest of the tournament will determine seeding for the state tournament.

With that in mind, Senators coach Jacob Lyon is keeping his attention on Fort Dale.

“We aren’t doing prep for any other team except for Fort Dale,” Morgan boys coach Jacob Lyon said. “They are a team where you can’t just say ‘OK, this kid can shoot, this kid can drive.’ They are a team that is real active and they run a lot of sets, so you have to be able to guard action.”

Morgan heads into Thursday’s game with a little momentum too.

The Senators just won at Fort Dale, which Lyon hopes ends a recent swoon that has seen Morgan struggle since the calendar turned to 2015.

“That’s the closest that we have come all year to everybody playing all 32 minutes the way I want them to play,” Lyon said. “

That helps a lot. Basketball is a tournament game, and we are playing our best at the most important time.”

As the top seed, Escambia Academy has a bye in the first round and will advance on automatically.

The Lady Senators will also be in action Thursday night, in the same win or done situation the boys’ team is in. Morgan will face Pike Liberal Arts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

If one or both of the Senators’ teams win, they will move on the Elite Eight, which will be played Feb. 3-5 at Huntingdon College.

The AISA Final Four will be played one week later at the Montgomery Multiplex Feb. 11-13.