CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will play their first road game of the season on Tuesday night when they travel to Jackson to face Belhaven at 7:00 p.m. in Rugg Arena.

This will be the 84th meeting between the Choctaws and the Blazers, dating back to the 1956 season. MC holds a 54-29 edge in the series, including winning 19 straight from 1986-2010. The two teams last played in 2011 when the Blazers snapped the 19-game streak with a 76-57 win in Jackson.

Don Lofton is in his 11th season as the head coach of the Choctaws, picking up his 179th career win last time out. He has faced Belhaven four times over his career, going 3-1 against the Blazers. The win against Spring Hill gave him a 10-1 mark all-time in season-opening contests.

The Choctaws come into the game off a 77-57 home victory over Spring Hill last Thursday that saw five players score in double-figures. MC shot 46% (25-of-54) from the floor and held the Badgers to just 35% (18-of-51) shooting in the contest.

Junior Tory Rice tallied a double-double in his Choctaw debut, posting 19 points and 11 rebounds. The Itawamba CC transfer went 8-of-11 from the floor and recorded four steals on the night.

Junior Tristan Moore and freshman Stacey Mack finished with 15 points apiece. Moore, a transfer from Northwest MS CC, was 6-of-12 from the field and led the team with five assists. Mack, a former McComb HS standout, came off the bench to go 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

Senior Jay Case scored all 12 of his points in the second half, going 4-of-8 from the three-point line, while junior Johnny Rucker had 11 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe.

The Blazers have opened the season with just two wins in their first nine games, but four of their defeats have come by fewer than seven points or have gone into overtime.

Head coach Jonathan Vines is in his first season at the helm, being named to the position at the beginning of August. Vines served as an assistant at Birmingham-Southern since 2007 and played his college ball at Millsaps College.

Senior Jordan Bedford is the team's leading scorer with 23.2 points per game, shooting 44% (33-of-75) from the three-point line and ranking second on the team with 5.1 rebounds per game. He has scored in double-figures in all nine games this season, going over 30 points on two occasions.

De'la Mayers (13.1 ppg) and Jerrial Dawson (12.2 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures, while Mayers leads the team with 7.7 rebounds per game, 12 steals and 10 blocks.