Joey Lieberman and Kevin Coker met Tuesday morning for a brief chat and chance to catch up.

Come tonight at 7:30 at Reckling Park in Houston, the two will be adversaries once again.

The former teammates at Warren Central who played integral roles in the Vikings’ 2001 state championship run will do battle tonight in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament. Memphis is the fourth seed, while the Golden Eagles are the fifth seed.

&#8220We went down to Hattiesburg and played them earlier in the year and it was outstanding,” Lieberman said from his team hotel in Houston. &#8220To get to play them again, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Lieberman was eating breakfast Tuesday morning when Coker walked in with a Warren Central baseball T-shirt. The two tried to get together Monday night, but the Golden Eagles’ bus had a flat tire and the team didn’t arrive until 2 Tuesday morning.

&#8220It’s fun to play against Joey because he is the all-American baseball player,” Coker said. &#8220The guy eats, sleeps, drinks and breathes the game.”

Coker will be playing in his final Conference USA Tournament after spending four seasons in Hattiesburg. He red-shirted his freshman year and played sporadically in his first two seasons.

A fan favorite, Coker earned playing time as a junior before starting this season as the everyday catcher.

He learned under one of Southern Miss’ best catchers Southern Miss history – Brad Wilcutt.

&#8220It was an emotional day Saturday because it was Senior Day and I knew it would be my last game ever in Hattiesburg,” Coker said. &#8220But there really isn’t much time for emotions, we need to win ballgames.”

Coker was named to the second team all-Conference USA team, as selected by coaches on Tuesday.

Lieberman took a different path to Memphis, starring at Meridian Community College for two seasons before signing with the Tigers.

He played in spots for the first half of the season, eventually earning a starting job as the Tigers’ designated hitter following the Southern Miss series.

The slugger has 13 home runs, including a game-winner against Notre Dame and a walk-off grand slam to beat East Carolina.

&#8220There’s no feeling like it,” Lieberman said.

Except, perhaps, a C-USA victory. With No. 1 ranked Rice and Houston shoo-ins for the NCAA Tournament, several more teams are fighting for regional berths, Memphis and Southern Miss included.

The winner of tonight’s game will likely battle the host Owls in Thursday’s winner’s bracket matchup. Rice swept both USM (37-19, 13-11 C-USA) and Memphis (30-26, 13-11) in the regular season.

&#8220When we want to play, we can play with anyone,” Lieberman said of the Tigers, who won 13 games last season. &#8220We already showed Southern Miss that we could give them everything they could handle.”

Memphis took two of three from the Golden Eagles in their only series this year.

&#8220The bottom line is we have to beat Memphis,” Coker said.