CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team begins their two-game homestand on Thursday night when they host Christian Brothers University at 8:00 p.m. in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
This will be the 8th all-time meeting between the schools with MC holding a 5-2 edge in the series. The teams met for the first time since the 1978-79 season on December 13th, and the Bucs picked up a 77-70 home victory over the Choctaws. The first half saw a couple of big runs by both teams, but CBU took a 33-32 lead into halftime. The Bucs opened up a 63-62 game with 4:18 remaining and clinched the win.
Stacey Mack came off the bench and scored a season-high 15 points with eight rebounds. Charlie Oswald came of the bench to lead CBU with 16 points.
Head coach
Don Lofton is in his 11th season at the helm, winning his first two games of the season for his 180th career victory. Lofton has compiled a 108-32 (.771) record at home, including a perfect mark in the 2005-06 season.
The Choctaws are coming off a tough road trip with losses at West Georgia and West Alabama. Against UWG, the Choctaws saw a four-point lead go away in the final minute, falling 86-85 at the GSC leaders. On Saturday against UWA, MC shot just 24% from the field in the first half and could not recover in a 74-58 loss.
Tory Rice scored a season-high 28 points against the Wolves and had his 9th double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Tigers.
Tristan Moore scored a season-high 19 points on Saturday.
Rice, who leads the team in both scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.1 rpg), has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season and has posted double-doubles in five of the last six contests.
Johnny Rucker is averaging 12.5 points per game and is shooting 44% from the field. He has scored in double-figures in each of the last five games and 12-of-15 games this season.
Moore flirted with history on Thursday night against West Georgia, posting 14 assists in the one-point loss. He had 10 assists at the half and became the first Choctaw to have a double-digit assist game since Daniel Kennedy had 10 in the 2001-02 season. The single-game record for assists came in 1973-74 when Randy Clemens, older brother of former MLB pitcher Roger, tallied 17 against Troy State.
The Bucs, led by former Choctaw Mike Nienaber (1977), snapped a three-game losing streak in their last outing, a 76-55 victory over Lee. CBU shot 55% from the field and went 10-of-20 from the three-point line in the victory. On the year, they rank 2nd in the GSC in scoring defense (67.4 ppg) behind Alabama Huntsville (66.2 ppg).
Trey Casey (15.9 ppg) is the team's leading scorer and is shooting 48% from the field and 45% from the three-point line. He put up 15 in the last meeting against MC and leads the squad with 43 steals on the year. Sidy Sall (14.7 ppg) ranks 2nd on the team in scoring and leads the way with 8.1 rebounds per game. Ryan Fleming averages 9.9 points per game and has tallied a team-high 95 assists.
