CLEVELAND, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will wrap up the 2014-15 regular season on Thursday night when they travel to face rival Delta State at Walter Sillers Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.
This will be the 76th meeting between the two schools since the 1972-73 season with DSU holding a 40-34-1 edge in the series. The two teams renewed the rivalry back on January 17th with the Statesmen coming to Clinton and picking up a 77-66 road victory over the Choctaws. DSU shot 62% from the floor and held MC to just 36%, including 20% (7-of-35) in the second half. Four Choctaws scored in double-figures, led by
Tory Rice with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Devin Schmidt led all scorers with 24 points for the Statesmen, while former Choctaw LaQuavius Cotton had 19 points in his return to Clinton.
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.
In their last outing, the Choctaws trailed by as many as 32 points with just over 12 minutes remaining at Shorter University on Saturday. MC got hot from the field and cut the advantage all the way down to 94-87 with just over a minute remaining. The Hawks would hold off the late charge and a take a 101-91 win over MC.
Emmanuel Ezejiofo scored a season-high 26 points, going 8-of-10 from the field and 3-of-3 from the three-point line.
Tory Rice tallied his MC record13th double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while
Tristan Moore scored 23 points with four assists, giving him four of the last five games with at least 20 points.
The four assists by Moore give him 101 on the season, which makes him the first player to hit the century mark in helpers since Jonathan Collins in the 2005-06 season. The Senatobia native tallied a season-high 14 assists on January 22nd against West Georgia, which is the second-best single game mark in school history behind 17 from Randy Clemens in the 1972-73 season.
Rice needs 13 more points in the finale against DSU to become the 49th player to join the 400-Point Club at MC. The last two players to accomplish the feat were Brandon Blake (406 pts - 2012-13) and Trevon Malone (416 pts - 2011-12). Rice has scored at least 13 points in 18-of-23 games this season, including seven straight coming into Thursday.
The Statesmen, led by 2nd-year head coach Jim Boone, have locked up a spot in the Gulf South Conference Tournament beginning next weekend, but they could finish as high as 5th and as low as 7th. With the top four seeds hosting first-round games, the Statesmen are assured of traveling for the opening day of the tournament.
Devin Schmidt (20.2 ppg) leads the team and ranks second in the league in scoring, shooting 41% from the three-point line and 81% from the free throw line. He also leads the team with 106 assits and 33 steals. Cotton is averaging 10.7 points per game and is shooting 47% from long range.
