CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will close out the month on January on Saturday when they host Union University at 4:00 p.m. in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
This will be the 7th all-time meeting between the two schools with the series tied at 3-3. The teams met time since the 1975-76 season on December 11th with Union picking up a 97-65 victory over the Choctaws in Jackson, Tenn. The Bulldogs went 18-of-30 (60%) from the three-point line and went 34-of-57 (60%) from the field in the win. They opened up a 21-point lead in the first 10 minutes and never looked back.
Johnny Rucker led MC with 14 points, while Union was led by Marterrace Brock with 23 points and seven assists.
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 108-33 (.766) record at home, including a perfect mark in the 2005-06 season.
The Choctaws hosted Christian Brothers on Thursday night in A.E. Wood Coliseum, and trailed just 62-61 with eight minutes remaining. The Bucs would use a 13-2 run over the next three minutes to pull away for the 79-68 victory, sweeping the season series. CBU went 16-of-29 (55%) from the three-point line, led by Ryan Fleming with 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Four Choctaws scored 11 points, led by
Tory Rice with 11 and eight rebounds.
Rice is the team's leading scorer (15.7 ppg) and rebounder (9.1 rpg) on the year, scoring in dobule-figures in all but one game, the first match-up with Union. He has posted nine double-doubles on the season and scored a season-high 28 points on January 22nd against West Georgia. Rice is shooting 58% from the field, including going 10-of-15 from the floor twice against UWG.
Johnny Rucker (12.3 ppg) and
Tristan Moore (10.4 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures with Rucker shooting 44% from the field and Moore posting a team-high 76 assists.
Rayner Fredrick is averaging 6.3 points per game and leads the way with 34 steals in his senior season.
Jay Case is shooting 48% from the three-point line and will go down as one of the top-5 long range shooters in school history, shooting 47% over his two seasons.
The Bulldogs, led by 6th-year head coach David Niven, have won three of their last four games and are tied for third in the Gulf South Conference standings with three weeks left in the season. In their first year as a full-fledged member of the league, Union is poised to advance to the eight-team postseason tournament. The Bulldogs rank 3rd in the GSC in scoring offense (79.5 ppg) and 4th in scoring defense (73.4 ppg).
Union has four players averaging in double-figures, led by Corieon Pearson with 17.9 points per game and shooting 51% from the field. He also leads the team with 73 assists. Marterrace Brock is averaging 17.3 points per game and has a team-high 40 steals.
