CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will look for a season sweep of West Alabama when they host the Gulf South Conference foe on Saturday in A.E. Wood Coliseum. Tip-off for the contest is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

This will be the 63rd all-time meeting between the two schools with MC holding a 32-30 edge in the series. The Choctaws are 17-10 against the Tigers in Clinton, but the last victory at home came on February 21, 1995 (72-36).

The Choctaws and Tigers played one of the highest-scoring games in history back on December 1, 1969 when then Livingston picked up a 160-146 win over MC. It was one of three straight games in the series when both teams scored at least 100 points.

The two teams opened the GSC slate back on December 3rd with MC coming away with a 68-65 victory in Livingston. The Choctaws built up a 14-point second half lead but had to hold on late for the win. MC shot 53% from the field in the win with Tory Rice leading the team with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Choctaws are coming off a 71-68 loss to GSC-leading West Georgia on Thursday night, falling to 0-5 in league play at home. MC trailed by as many as 12 in the second half, but grabbed a lead and had a shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Rice tallied his 21st career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

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 194 games as the head man and coached his 300th career game against UWF.

Rice (13.8 ppg / 11.9 rpg) has scored 586 career points and is on pace to become just the 56th player in school history to score 600 points. His 397 career rebounds ranks 23rd all-time, and he will look to become just the 22nd player to grab 400 boards.

Tristan Moore (13.8 ppg / 4.0 apg) is the team leader in scoring and assists and is shooting 42% from the floor. The Senatobia native stuffed the stat sheet on Thursday, scoring 16 points with five rebounds, five steals and five assists. He is the school's all-time leader in assists (4.2) and steals (1.9) per game.

Johnny Rucker (12.5 ppg) scored 17 points on Thursday night, going 2-of-3 from the three-point line, knocking down multiple long balls for the first time since December 17th. The Yazoo City native is shooting 78% from the free throw line and ranks 4th on the team with 4.2 rebounds per game.

The Tigers are led by 2nd-year head coach Allen Sharpe, who has his team in 7th in the GSC standings, sitting with an opportunity to go to the postseason tournament. UWA will be playing their fifth straight road game on Saturday afternoon, having not played in Livingston since January 4th vs. Lee (W, 80-63).

UWA is coming off, arguably, their biggest win of the season with a 58-53 win over Delta State on Thursday night in Cleveland. The Tigers handed the Statesmen their first home loss of the season as Acie Vance led the way with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Deontaye Ewing (13.3 ppg) is the team's leading scorer and the only player to start all 18 games for the Tigers this season. He has scored in double-figures in all but two games, including eight straight on the season.

Simeon Dennis (12.3 ppg) and Jahmal Lane (10.2 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures, while Dakari Mayo (5.9 ppg) leads the team in rebounds per game (6.3) and blocked shots (63).