CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team begins their three-game road swing to close the regular season on Thursday night when they travel to face Lee University at 7:00 pm (Central) in Paul Dana Walker Arena.

This will be just the 2nd all-time meeting between the two schools with the other coming back on January 12th in Clinton, a 73-72 victory for the Choctaws. With 1:33 remaining, the Flames led 72-68 after Jervon Johnson hit a three-pointer. Tristan Moore answered on MC's next possession with a three of his own gave the Choctaws the lead with :05 remaining on a layup. Lee would have a last-second shot for the win, but the put-back was just late and the Choctaws walked away with a thrilling victory. Five Choctaws scored in double-figures, led by 13 from Moore and a double-double from Tory Rice (12 pts, 10 rebs). Johnson led Lee with 21 points, while Cory Billingsley had 20.

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 110-34 (.764) record at home, including a perfect mark in the 2005-06 season.

The Choctaws had a four-game winning streak snapped in their last contest as they dropped their final home game of the year to Alabama Huntsville, 73-66. Freshman Stacey Mack scored a season-high 23 points, going 7-of-11 from the field. MC trailed by as many as 12 points with seven minutes to go but cut the lead to just 70-66 with 1:05 remaining. The Chargers held on for the win with the help of Justin Ward, who came off the bench to score 30 points.

Rice is the team's leading scorer (16.5 ppg) and rebounder (9.9 rpg) on the season, racking up 13 double-doubles, a new Mississippi College all-time record. The Starkville native is shooting 57% from the floor and has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season. Junior Tristan Moore (11.3 ppg) is also averaging in double-figures and leads the team with 95 assists. With five more helpers, he would become the first Choctaw with triple-digit assists in a season since Jonathan Collins had 113 in 2005-06.

Mack has stepped up over the last five games, earning starts due to an injury to senior Rayner Fredrick. The McComb native has started all five games and is averaging 14.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in that span. He has scored double-figures in five of the last six games and is averaging 17.0 ppg over the last three contests.

The Flames, led by 10th-year head coach Tommy Brown, are coming off of, arguably, their biggest win of the season, an 89-84 victory at West Georgia on Saturday. Prior to that, they had lost 10-of-12 after opening the season at 9-3. Billingsley led Lee with 30 points, going 10-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free throw line.

Billingsley (16.5 ppg) is the team's leading scorer and is shoooting 51% from the floor and 41% from the three-point line. He also leads the team with 38 steals and is second with 62 assists. Stedmon Ford (10.3 ppg) and Tyquan Roberts (10.0 ppg) are also scoring double-figures.