CLEVELAND, Miss. - The Mississippi College (4-7, 2-3 GSC) men's basketball team is set to take on Delta State (5-7, 4-2 GSC) Sunday afternoon with tip-off set for 4 p.m. in Cleveland, Miss.

HOW TO WATCH
Location: Cleveland, Miss.
Arena: Walter Sillers Coliseum
Time: 4 p.m. CST
Live Stream
Live Stats
Audio
  SERIES LOOK
Overall Series: DSU leads 61-37
Streak: DSU eight straight
Last Appearance: DSU 68 | MC 63 | February 20, 2020

LAST TIMEOUT (DECEMBER 20, 2021) MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE 81 | CHRISTIAN BROTHERS 76
The Mississippi College Choctaws won by a final score of 81-76 in their last game played back on December 20 over Christian Brothers in Gulf South Conference play.

For the second game in a row, Galen Smith led Mississippi College in scoring, finishing with 32 points and eight rebounds. Monday night marked the second straight game in which Smith scored 30 points or more, average 31 points and nine rebounds in the last two games combined.

Mississippi College got off to a slow start in the first half, trailing Christian brothers by score of 41-34 at the break. The Choctaws trailed 49-41 with 16:11 left in the second half but would pull within 51-48 over the next three minutes of play.

With just over 10 minutes left to go in the second half, Miles Miller knocked down to three point field goal to tie the ball game up 57-57. Three minutes later, a Tradavis Thompson layup in the paint on a fast break would give the Choctaws a 61-59 lead with 7:31 left in the game.

Over the final minutes of play, the Choctaws and Bucs battled back-and-forth, before MC would go up 80-73 with just over 10 seconds left in regulation. The Choctaws would go on to win the ball game by final score of 81-76, picking up the win in GSC play.

The Choctaws produced the 10+ points scorers on the afternoon, led by Smith. Smith was 12-14 from the field and a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line. Zach Jones finished 7-8 from the field, while finishing second on the team with 16 points. Tradavis Thompson had a stellar afternoon going 4-6 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line, while adding 12 points and three assists.

Choctaws guard Lamont Berzat tallied six points and a team best 11 assists for the afternoon. As a team Mississippi College shot 30-51 from the field and outscored the Bucs 46-36 in the paint. MC also had 44 points off of the bench.

LAST TIME VERSUS DELTA STATE (FEBRUARY 20, 2020)
The last time the Choctaws and Statesmen faced off in was Delta State that came out on top by a final of 68-63 win in A.E. Wood Coliseum on February 20, 2020.
 

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HOW IT HAPPENED
  - The Statesmen were able to grab the first early advantage of the game as they took a 12-5 lead with 14:04 remaining on a bucket from Maalik Cartwright.
  - MC would respond, however, scoring the next eight points and taking their first lead of the night when Winford Ross hit a jumper with 12:01 to go.
  - The game remained tight, and when Airen Brooks hit a three-pointer with 3:36 remaining the score was tied at 27-27.
  - The Choctaws scored 8-of-9 points to close the half and would take a 35-28 lead into the halftime break.
  - MC continued to extend the lead and when Stefan Bozickovic hit a jumper with 15:28 to go, the Choctaws had their largest lead of the night at 41-30.
  - The Statesmen would chip away at the lead and when Cartwright hit a jumper with 7:40 remaining, the score was tied at 48-48.
  - The teams traded three-pointers, but the Statesmen would take the lead for good with 4:47 to go on a bucket by Cartwright, making the score 55-54.
  - The Choctaws were able to get the deficit down to one possession in the final minute, but the Statesmen went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line to clinch the win.
 

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KEY STATS
  - The Choctaws shot 39% (24-of-61) from the field and 5-of-16 (31%) from the three-point line.
  - The Statesmen went 24-of-58 (41%) from the floor and 8-of-20 (40%) from long range.
  - The Choctaws outrebounded DSU 46-35 and outscored their bench, 37-0.
  - Jacob Taylor led MC with 11 points, while Zach Jones had nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
  - Cartwright led all scorers with 17 points, while Brooks had 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds.