Thursday, February 23, 2012
Mississippi College is a perfect 14 for 14 in American Southwest Conference Tournament appearances. MC has the most ASC Tournament bids in conference history.
On Feb. 18, the Choctaws defeated East Texas Baptist 88-66 to clinch their spot in the conference tournament. MC finished the season Feb. 20, in a 80-63 loss to Louisiana College.
Mississippi College finished the season 9-15 overall and 7-13 in conference play. MC has 20 wins in the conference tournament with just eight losses. McMurry University is second in wins with 14 and 8 losses.
The Choctaws have won the tournament five times and have been runners-up five times as well. Mississippi College leads the conference by a large margin with 23 players selected to the all-tournament team, three of whom are tournament MVPs.
Leading MC in scoring this season is Trevon Malone from Memphis, Tenn., who averages 17.3 points per game and started in all 23 games. Brandon Blake, from Oxford, adds 13.1 points per game and has appeared in all 23 games.
Several players from the Jackson area are on the Choctaw basketball team. Adam Smith, from Murrah High School, has played in 22 games and started two games averaging 7.2 points per contest.
Terry High School has three former players on the MC team. Gerrnero Trussell has played in only one game, Terencio Powell saw action in 19 games and is averaging 2.7 points per game, and Eugene Thomas has seen limited action this season.
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will host the tournament as the conference's best team at 24-1 overall. MC will play the tournament host in their first game of the tournament this Friday at 7:30pm. Fans wanting to keep up with all the action can watch via free live video streaming with audio provided by Stretch Internet, UMHB and the ASC. On the ASC website, fans can access the "tournament central" page to get more tournament action.
The ASC Tournament will be in Texas, where Mary Hardin-Baylor is located. MC will need a superior effort to beat the team that went 20-1 in league play.
If MC does pull of the huge upset, they will play in the semifinals Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and in the final Sunday at 2 p.m.