CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will open Gulf South Conference action on Thursday night when they welcome Montevallo to Clinton. Tip-off at A.E. Wood Coliseum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
The Choctaws will then travel to Livingston, Ala. on Saturday to face West Alabama at 4:00 p.m. in Pruitt Hall.
GAME INFORMATION
Matchup: Mississippi College Choctaws (2-2, 0-0 GSC) vs. Montevallo Falcons (3-4, 0-0 GSC)
Date: Thursday, November 29th, 2018
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Clinton, Miss. | A.E. Wood Coliseum
Matchup: Mississippi College Choctaws (3-2, 1-0 GSC) at West Alabama Tigers (3-2, 1-0 GSC)
Date: Saturday, December 1st, 2018
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Livingston, Ala. | Pruitt Hall
SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
The Choctaws are led by 15th-year head coach
Don Lofton, who has posted a career record of 215-157 (.578). He is joined on the bench by first-year assistant coach
Alex Ainsworth and former Choctaw
Otis Harvey as a graduate assistant.
MC is coming off a 68-57 loss at Southern Arkansas that saw them shoot just 34% from the floor and get outrebounded, 45-28.
Dyllan Taylor led the Choctaws with 15 points aand four assists, while
Brandon Boston added 14 points and
Marcus Lytle chipped in 10.
Donovan Ham (16.7 ppg) is the team's leading scorer, while Boston (14.5 ppg) leads the team with 8.3 rebounds per contest.
Tre Jenkins (12.5 ppg) is shooting 44% from the three-point line, while Taylor (12.0 ppg) has a team-best 21 assists. Lytle (11.5 ppg) is also scoring in double-figures for MC.
SCOUTING MONTEVALLO
The Falcons are led by 16th-year head coach Danny Young, who has posted a 332-151 (.687) in his time at Montevallo. He is joined on the bench by Ducan Hudson and Deshawn Jones.
UM has lost three of their last four games after opening the season with a 2-1 record. They have only scored more than 70 points one time this season but have allowed more than 70 points just once.
Micah Fuller (11.0 ppg) is the team's leading scorer, despite coming off the bench in all seven contests. De'Marco Owens (8.4 ppg) leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game, while Cam Copeland (7.3 ppg) has a team-best 31 assists.
SCOUTING WEST ALABAMA
The Tigers are led by 5th-year head coach Allen Sharpe, who has posted a 65-57 (.533) in his time at West Alabama. He is joined on the bench by assistant coach Nick Woodruff.
UWA has won two straight after opening the season with a pair of losses in Lakeland, Fla. to Florida Southern and Eckerd. They have been held under 70 points in three of their first four games but have held their opponents under 70 points three times, as well.
Josh Fleming (14.0 ppg) is the only player averaging in double-figure scoring for the Tigers, but he has missed the last two games. DeAndre Harper (8.0 ppg) leads the team with 7.3 rebounds per game, while Lajuan Hardy (5.5 ppg) has a team-best 20 assists.
GAME NOTES
This will be just the 5th all-time meeting between the two schools with the Falcons holding a 3-1 edge in the series.
Last season, UM won both contests, outlasting the Choctaws in Clinton, 64-60. MC erased a seven-point deficit in the final minutes, but the Falcons held on for the victory.
Since their return to the Gulf South Conference in 2014-15, the Choctaws have alternated wins and losses in their first league games of the season.
In 2017-18, MC opened GSC play with a 69-65 victory over Union as
Xavion Dillon came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points with 10 rebounds.
Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and will be competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.
The athletic department sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.
For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact
David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or
nichols@mc.edu.
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