CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will wrap up the 2018-19 season on Thursday night when they host long-time rival West Alabama. Tip-off in A.E. Wood Coliseum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

It will be "Senior Night" for the Choctaws as four student-athletes will be recognized at halftime of the women's game before playing their final game in the Blue and Gold. Isaiah Austin, Davy Fisher, Marcus Lytle and Howard Thomas will play for the final time in A.E. Wood Coliseum on Thursday night.
 

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GAME INFORMATION

Matchup: Mississippi College (7-17, 4-15 GSC) vs. West Alabama (20-6, 15-4 GSC)
Date: Thursday, February 28th, 2019
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Clinton, Miss. | A.E. Wood Coliseum
 

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SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE

The Choctaws are led by 15th-year head coach Don Lofton, who has posted a career record of 220-172 (.561). He is joined on the bench by first-year assistant coach Alex Ainsworth and former Choctaw Otis Harvey as a graduate assistant. The Choctaws are coming off a tough road loss at Delta State that saw them fall to their rivals, 86-54.

Thursday night will be "Senior Night" for the Choctaws as they recognize four student-athletes playing their final games in the Blue and Gold. Isaiah Austin (Clinton, MS), Davy Fisher (Rome, GA), Marcus Lytle (Memphis, TN) and Howard Thomas (Brandon, MS) will all be honored at halftime of the women's game against UWA.

Lytle (12.7 ppg) is the top scorer among the seniors, shooting just under 50% from the floor on the season and scoring in double-figures 16 times this season. Fisher has been with the program for five years, red-shirting in the 2014-15 campaign. He will wrap things up having played in 83 career games with 22 starts.

Austin transferred in from Northwest MS CC prior to last season and scored a career-high 20 points against Southern-New Orleans last season. Thomas has started each of the last four games and scored a season-high 16 points in a win over Shorter.
 

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SCOUTING WEST ALABAMA

The Tigers, led by 5th-year head coach Allen Sharpe, have a shot at the GSC regular season championship with a win on Thursday night and a Valdosta State loss to Auburn Montgomery.

They had an 11-game win streak snapped by VSU in their last outing, falling to the Blazers, 67-54. Josh Fleming (13.5 ppg) and LaJuan Hardy (13.2 ppg) are the only two players averaging in double-figures, while Hardy is 2nd in the GSC with 5.3 assists per game.
 

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GAME NOTES

This will be the 69th all-time meeting between the two schools with each taking 34 victories in the series.

It is the 4th-most played rivalry in school history behind Delta State (97), Belhaven (86) and Mississippi State (75).

The teams met all the way back on December 1st in Livingston with UWA hitting a shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime and ultimately winning, 81-79.
 

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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.