ST. AUGUSTINE – Flagler College head men's basketball coach Chad Warner officially released the 2017-18 schedule this afternoon. The Saints have 26 dates and will play half of its schedule (13 games) at home this season.

Warner is in his first year at the helm of the Flagler basketball program. He was named the program's seventh head coach. Warner brings a 156-91 record in eight seasons at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia.

Coincidentally, Flagler opens its regular season against the same Shorter team Warner last coached in 2014-15. The two teams will tangle in Flagler Gymnasium on Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. This will be the fourth consecutive year the season opener has been at home.

The Saints will hit the road for a tournament hosted by Clark University Atlanta, Nov. 17-18. The Saints open with the host school, Clark Atlanta, a team they beat last year in overtime, 66-59. Flagler faces Paine College the next day. The Lions handed the Saints a tough 75-72 loss to open the 2016-17 season.

Flagler hosts Saint Leo University on Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. to wrap up its non-conference schedule. The last time these two teams met was Dec. 1, 2014 with Flagler earning a hard-fought 59-51 victory.

With the Peach Belt Conference losing two members, Armstrong State University and the University of Montevallo, the number of team is now 12. For the first time since the 2008-09 season, the league will not be split into divisions and each team will play 22 conference games. Each conference team will face each other twice, home and away.

The Saints open PBC play on the road against Clayton State University on Dec. 2. After that, Flagler breaks for two weeks before resuming league play at home against the University of North Georgia on Dec. 16 and Young Harris College on Dec. 19, both games have 3:30 p.m. tips.

Flagler sneaks in one more conference game, on the road, before the calendar rolls over to 2018. On Dec. 30, the Saints visit Georgia College in Milledgeville.

The Saints have four home dates in the month of January. Last year's regular season champion, Augusta University, comes to the Ancient City on Jan. 3 while USC Aiken follows a week later on Jan. 10. Georgia Southwestern State University (Jan. 18) and last year's PBC Tournament champion UNC Pembroke (Jan. 27) follow.

Five home games highlight the final month of the regular season – February. Flagler takes on Lander University on Feb. 3. Clayton State and Georgia College pay a visit on Feb. 10 and 12, respectively. Francis Marion University and Columbus State wrap up the home regular season schedule on Feb. 17 and 21.

The PBC tournament format has changed as well. The top eight teams will advance to quarterfinal play on Feb. 27 with all games being played at the campus site of the higher seed. The winner will advance to the final four, which will be played at the highest remaining seed March 3-4. The winner of the tournament receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Click here to view the entire schedule.