CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team opens their season-ending three-game homestand on Thursday night by hosting Lee University in A.E. Wood Coliseum. The Gulf South Conference contest is scheduled for an 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

This will be just the 4th all-time meeting between the two schools with MC holding a 2-1 edge in the series. The home teams won both meetings in 2014-15, but the Choctaws traveled to Cleveland on January 11th and picked up a 65-57 victory over the Flames.

Last season in Clinton, the two teams played a thriller with MC coming away with a 73-72 victory. Neither team held a larger lead than six points, and senior Tristan Moore gave MC the one-point lead with five seconds remaining on a layup. The Flames missed a three-pointer on the other end, and their late put-back attempt was just late as the Choctaws held on for the win.

Earlier this season, MC's defense allowed their fewest points of the season in the road victory over the Flames. The Choctaws allowed just 24 first-half points and erased an early nine-point deficit. Moore led MC with 19 points, while Tory Rice had 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.

The Choctaws are coming off an impressive road trip that saw them win their second straight game over North Alabama in Flowers Hall. Without their top five leading scorers due to injury and suspension, Antonio Johnson stepped up, scoring a career-high 24 points. Redshirt freshman Hunter Ray, playing in just his second career game, hit the game-winning free throw in the final seconds.

On Saturday, MC lost to GSC regular season champion, Alabama Huntsville on the road. The Choctaws cut a 15-point second half lead down to 49-45 with under 12 minutes remaining, but UAH pulled away for the win. Jonathan McGee led MC with 18 points, going 4-of-9 from the three-point line.

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

Senior Tory Rice (14.0 ppg / 11.8 rpg) has missed the last five games due to injury and the Choctaws have been outrebounded in each of those contests. However, over the last four games, MC's defense has held opponents to just 40% shooting from the field including UNA and UAH shooting below 40%.

The Flames are led by 11th-year head coach Tommy Brown and have been playing some of the best basketball in the conference over the past several weeks. They are 5-4 over their last nine games, putting them just one game out of the final spot in the GSC Tournament.

Of their four losses in the past five weeks, three have come by four points or less with one coming in overtime. They are holding teams to just 42% shooting on the season, which ranks second in the conference. Their 48% field goal percentage is the third-best mark in the league.

Keevin Tyus (15.6 ppg / 7.3 rpg) is the team's leading scorer and rebounder, shooting 65% from the field. Over the last three games, Tyus is shooting 78% from the floor, including scoring 21 points with eight rebounds off the bench. Chase Cullen (13.4 ppg / 6.4 rpg) is the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder and has a team-high 26 steals.

Levi Woods (6.0 ppg) is the team's leading three-point shooter at 43% from behind the arc. Rico Overall (8.7 ppg), Jervon Johnson (6.1 ppg) and Bryce Copeland (3.8 ppg) have all made 25 or more long balls on the season.