ATLANTA — Parker Seabolt couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement surrounding Tennessee men’s basketball Friday.

The No. 4 Vols defeated South Carolina in an 89-87 nailbiter to advance to the semifinals of the SEC tournament for the first time since 1991, prompting Seabolt and a friend to buy tickets online for this weekend’s action.

“We saw (UT coach) Bruce Pearl talking on TV, and we got excited,’’ said Seabolt, a 21-year-old East Tennessee State student from Bristol. “We had tickets to the race (at Bristol Motor Speedway), but we passed on them.’’

Who could have known a tornado would strike downtown Atlanta for the first time in history and make the Georgia Dome unplayable?

“I just wish it could have been on a different weekend,’’ said Sharon Shadwick, a 21-year-old UT student from Cleveland, Tenn., found milling outside the gates to 9,191-seat Alexander Memorial Coliseum. “How often does a tornado hit downtown Atlanta?’’

It was one too many times for Taylor Jones, who was attending Friday night’s Alabama-Mississippi State game with his 12-year-old son, Todd, when a tornado wreaked havoc in the Georgia Dome area.

“It was pandemonium inside; everyone started running for the aisles,’’ said Jones, who saw the lights swinging and heard the nearby tornado’s roar. “If stuff started falling from the ceiling, the only place we could have found safety would have been under the steel hand rails — you couldn’t fit under the seats.’’

Jones spent Saturday morning with his son trying to find a way into UT’s game later in the day. His first idea was to try to reach UT player JaJuan Smith, who has a young cousin who plays basketball with his son.

That didn’t work, but going up to the admission gate at just the right time apparently did.

“It was about 20 minutes before tipoff and I showed them my (Georgia Dome) tickets,’’ Jones said. “I think the tickets I got are from the Georgia allotment; I guess they got the word to just give them out.’’

That wasn’t exactly the plan SEC officials and athletic directors from the five remaining schools in the tournament worked out in meetings that ran until 4 a.m. Saturday. In addition to SEC corporate sponsors getting an unspecified allotment, the schools were awarded tickets.

UT athletic director Mike Hamilton explained that each of the five remaining teams in the tournament was to have a 400-ticket allotment for Saturday’s games and a 1,000-ticket allotment for Sunday’s title game at 3:30 (TV: WVLT and ESPN2).

The Vols played Arkansas in the semifinals on Saturday night.

“We have up to 400 passes at the pass gate for our coaches’ families, our players’ families, and after that, you have a certain number of tickets remaining,’’ Hamilton said. “It was simple for us to distribute the rest; we offered them first to board of trustee members, and then we offered two tickets per donor in rank order as set by the VASF Scholarship Point System.’’

The value of tickets from unused SEC tournament sessions will be refunded at face value.

Knoxville’s Dustin Teske didn’t need to worry about that Saturday morning, as he was one of many who beat the system to see Georgia upset Kentucky .

“I don’t want to get anybody in trouble,’’ said Teske, a real estate loan officer, when asked how he had gained admission. “I just know somebody.

“But there was obviously a lot of tickets that weren’t given out; sitting here watching an SEC tournament game and it’s only one-third capacity, it’s crazy.’’

It was even more bizarre Friday night in the Georgia Dome, Teske said.

“We heard a noise like a train, and I nudged my buddy and pointed up at the roof,’’ Teske said. “It was rippling and the lights were swinging. We ran into the concessions tunnel.’’

Patrick Brown, a 19-year-old UT student, said he and his family elected to sit tight.

“The whole crowd panicked and started to rush to leave, but we stayed there because we figured the Georgia Dome was structurally sound,’’ said Brown, who was accompanied by his father and brother. “I was pretty scared when the roof started shaking and things were swaying.

“Once we got outside, we saw metal everywhere, glass, insulation, street signs down…it was total destruction.’’

Brown and his family were packed up leaving the Marriott Marquis hotel, where the Tennessee team was staying when the tornado hit.

“I’m kind of upset about having to leave, because Tennessee has a great chance of winning,’’ Brown said. “But when it really comes down to it, I’d rather be safe.’’

Pearl’s son, Steven, a reserve with the Vols, walked by as the Browns were checking out.

“We don’t have much choice in what happens,’’ Pearl said. “We just have to roll with it.’’

Gus Manning, who has been attending various SEC and UT athletic events for some 60 years, sat alone in a top row of the Georgia Tech coliseum and reflected.

“You know, one year when we had the basketball tournament in Lexington there was a big snow storm, but we didn’t cancel or move the games,’’ said the 84-year-old Manning, a retired UT executive athletics board member who once worked for Gen. Robert Neyland. “I can say I have never seen anything like this.’’

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.