CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will hit the road for the final time in 2015 when they face West Florida on Thursday night. Tip-off at the UWF Field House in Pensacola, Fla. is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
This will be the 7th all-time meeting between the two schools with the series tied, 3-3. The Choctaws swept the season series from the Argos last season, winning by 18 points in Clinton and coming back for a 92-88 victory in double-overtime on the road.
In the thriller in Pensacola, the Choctaws trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, and
Tristan Moore's layup in the final minute sent the game to overtime. MC held UWF scoreless over the final two minutes of the second extra period to seal the win. Moore scored a career-high 28 points with a career-high 12 rebounds.
Tory Rice scored 20 points with 13 boards.
The Choctaws are coming off a tough home conference weekend, offensively, scoring just 53.5 points per game and shooting 30% from the field. MC lost to Christian Brothers (64-53) on Saturday night, despite outrebounding the Bucs, 46-30.
MC head coach
Don Lofton comes into his 12th season with his 200th career victory in sight. Lofton, who has been a part of the program for more than 30 years, has won 191 games as the head man. He will coach his 300th career game on Thursday.
Rice (15.7 ppg / 11.5 rpg) is MC's leading scorer and rebounder this season, shooting 62% from the field. The Starkville native has pulled down 32 offensive boards this season and ranks 2nd in school history with 130 (Adam Smith - 135). Rice also ranks 8th in school history with 10.0 rebounds per game.
Moore (12.5 ppg / 4.5 apg) now ranks as MC's all-time leader in assists (4.4 apg) and steals (1.9 spg) per game over a career. The Senatobia native 131 career helpers with 56 career swipes in just over one season with the team. Moore has started all six games this season and scored a season-high 22 points with 10 assists against West Georgia.
Senior
Johnny Rucker (11.3 ppg) is also scoring in double-figures this season, going 17-of-21 from the free throw line. Senior
Jonathan McGee (7.3 ppg) joins Moore, Rice and Rucker in starting all six games this season. The Choctaws will not have to deal with the loss of junior
Otis Harvey (7.6 ppg), who suffered a season-ending injury on Thursday against Union.
West Florida is led by first-year head coach Jeff Burkhamer, who comes to the program with 31 years of coaching experience and 13 at the Division II level. He spent six seasons at Lander University (Greenwood, S.C.) and seven seasons at Armstrong State University (Savannah, Ga.), posting a 379-199 career coaching record.
The Argonauts come into Thursday's game off two road losses to Lee (72-70) and Shorter (68-88). The 20-point loss to the Hawks on Monday saw UWF jump out to an early five-point lead, but SU's hot shooting (56%) closed the gap and pulled away for the win. Austin Somerfield led the Argos with 14 points, while Lendward Griffin had nine points and nine rebounds.
UWF has eight players that average 20 minutes per game and four players that averaged 10 points per game. Somerfield (16.9 ppg / 9.7 rpg) leads the team in both categories, shooting 46% from the floor.
Mario Stramaglia (13.6 ppg) is shooting 42% from the three-point line, while Jason Laatsch (9.4 ppg) leads the team with 20 assists. Laatsch came off the bench to score 23 points in last year's double-overtime loss to the Choctaws in Pensacola.
#MC#
