BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Midwestern State goes for its fourth Lone Star Conference championship Sunday afternoon against Southwestern Oklahoma State at Bruin Fieldhouse.
Catch all of the action live on 100.9 BOB FM in Wichita Falls or via live streaming audio on MSUMustangs.com.
All games are also available free of charge via live video streaming on LoneStarConference.tv.
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
2009 LSC Men's Basketball Championship
Bruin Fieldhouse
Bartlesville, Okla.
Thursday, March 5
Quarterfinals
Southwestern Oklahoma State 82, Angelo State 65
Central Oklahoma 77, Tarleton State 76
Texas A&M-Kingsville 50, Texas A&M-Commerce 48
Midwestern State 94, Cameron 65
Saturday, March 7
Semifinals
Southwestern Oklahoma 69, Central Oklahoma 67
Midwestern State 76, Texas A&M-Kingsville 62
Sunday, March 8
Championship
Southwestern Oklahoma vs. Midwestern State, 1 p.m.
Midwestern State in the LSC Tournament
Midwestern State will making its ninth appearance in the Lone Star Conference postseason and has come away with three league championships.
The Mustangs are 13-5 all time in the event, but are a tidy 12-2 in Jeff Ray's five trips to the tournament which includes championships in 1999, 2000 and 2007. Ironically, MSU has claimed two championships a year after the Mustangs missed the playoffs (1998 and 2006).
Today will mark MSU's fourth appearance in the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament championship game and it has claimed a title in each of the finals appearances including 1999, 2000 and 2007.
Mustangs Trends
Midwestern State (23-6) has won 20 of its last 22 games coming into today's Lone Star Conference final.
The Mustangs claimed their first outright LSC South Division title since 2000 by going 10-2 against the South Division. It marked MSU's best division record since it finished.
The Mustangs are second in the LSC in scoring offense at 80.7 points per game and are sixth in the league in scoring defense allowing 68.8 points a game.
MSU tops the conference in field goal percentage (48.4 percent) and 3-point percentage (41.2 percent) and are second in field goal percentage defense (41.2 percent). Midwestern is third in 3-point field goal percentage (30.9 percent).
Bulldogs Trends
Southwestern Oklahoma State (19-10) avenged a regular season ending loss to Central Oklahoma with a stunning 69-67 victory Saturday afternoon in the Lone Star Conference semifinals.
The Bulldogs have been the surprise of the tournament having knocked off the No. 10-ranked Bronchos of Central Oklahoma, who were also ranked third in the South Central Region, after upending Angelo State on Thursday. The Rams were the No. 5 team in the region.
SWOSU has now won five of its last six and nine of its last 12 games.
Southwestern Oklahoma is third in the LSC in scoring offense at 78.9 points per game and are 11th in the league in scoring defense allowing 71.6 points a game.
The Bulldogs are 10th in the league in field goal percentage (43.5 percent) and second in 3-point percentage (36.8 percent). TAMUK is 12th in field goal percentage defense (45.3 percent) and tops the league in 3-point field goal percentage (28.6 percent).
Interestingly, the Bulldogs have attempted more than 100 more 3-pointers than any other team in the Lone Star Conference this season and have shot 262 more than MSU.
Be on the lookout for this Mustang
Five-time Lone Star Conference South Division Player of the Week Nolan Richardson tops not only the conference but is the NCAA Division II South Central Region's scoring leader at 21.1 points per game.
Richardson tallied a career-best 35 points aided by six 3-pointers to help the Mustangs clinch the No. 1 seed with a 90-77 win over No. 23 Angelo State last week on Feb. 25 in Junell Center/Stephens Arena.
He fought off the flu to score 13 points in a 80-59 runaway win over Texas A&M-Kingsville last Saturday to clinch MSU's first outright South Division title since 2000 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
Richardson needed just 22 minutes and nine field goal attempts to score 27 points in a 94-66 runaway win over Cameron on Thursday night.
In that game, he became the 34th member of Midwestern's 1,000-point Club and currently has 1,015 career points. He also went over 2,000 points during his four years of collegiate competition which included stops at Northern Oklahoma-Enid and Hutchinson (Kan.) College.
Richardson canned four 3-pointers and went a perfect 11-for-11 from the line to close with 25 points against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday.
Richardson has posted at least 30 points in five games and has scored 20-or-more points 16 times this season.
Beware of the Dawgs
The trio of Kenneth "Redd" White, Clarke Hale and Kendall Smith has combined to hit 238 3-pointer this season.
White, a first-team All-Lone Star Conference North Division selection, leads the team and is second only to Nolan Richardson in league scoring with 19.7 points per game. He has connected on 84 of 234 shots from beyond the arc. He has also shown the ability to get to the free throw line where he has connected on 156 of his 197 attempts (79.2 percent).
Hale, second-team North Division pick, is SWOSU's most accurate long range marksman having hit 67 of his 156 3-point attempts (42.9 percent).
Smith has connected on a team-best 87 treys while shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Jerard Campbell is the Bulldogs top interior presence averaging 13.5 points and 7.2 rebounds a game, while defensive stopper Abdullah Lawal, the LSC North Defensive Player of the Year, leads NCAA Division II with 4.2 steals per game.
Midwestern's last time out against the Bulldogs
Anthony Moore came off of the bench to score 19 points in just 16 minutes as Midwestern State rolled to a 77-67 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State at Rankin Willliams Fieldhouse in Weatherford back on Jan. 10.
The Mustangs had a nine-point lead after Craig Green hit a layup to give MSU a 44-35 lead with 13:57, but the Bulldogs needed just three minutes to reel off a 10-0 run to take the lead on a 3-pointer by Kenneth "Redd" White with 10:04 to go.
But that would be the Bulldogs only advantage as Midwestern countered with a 17-3 ignited by a pair of Nolan Richardson 3-pointers to allow the Mustangs to pull away for good.
Richardson finished with a season-low eight points, but the Mustangs got a 14-point, six-rebound and five-assist performance from Earl Rabb to go along with a double-double by Trajinski Grigsby (13 points, 11 rebounds.).
White paced the Bulldogs with 22 points while Kendall Smith canned four of his nine treys to finish with 12 points.
The win extended MSU's eventual 10-game winning streak to nine.
Mustangs like it neutral
Midwestern State hopes to continue its hot shooting on neutral floors in today's LSC championship against Southwestern Oklahoma.
The Mustangs are 4-0 with wins over Northwest Missouri State (84-78 on Dec. 20), Ouachita Baptist (77-72 on Dec. 21), Cameron (94-65 on March 5) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (76-62 on March 7).
In those games, MSU has posted a 50.5 field goal percentage and has hit a 49.2-percent clip from the arc.
Senior guard Nolan Richardson averages 329 points a game on neutral surfaces with a 52.8 field goal percentage while hitting 16 of his 29 shots (55.2 percent) from the arc. He has also hit 44 of his 45 free throws (97.8 percent).
About the series
Midwestern State and Southwestern Oklahoma State meet for the 39th time on the hardwood Sunday afternoon at Bruin Fieldhouse.
The Mustangs hold a 27-17 series advantage including a 77-67 win in Weatherford back on Jan. 10.
Today marks the first time the teams will battle for a conference championship, but the teams have played each three other times in the LSC postseason tournament with MSU claiming wins in each of those contests.
MSU claimed a 110-90 win over the Bulldogs on Jan. 29, 2000, a 72-69 decision on March 1, 2005 and a 90-67 victory on Feb. 27, 2007. All were first-round meetings.
Today will mark just the fifth time the teams have played on a neutral surface. SWOSU claimed a 61-52 win over the Indians on Dec. 20, 1948 in Portales before Midwestern claimed the next three including wins in Cordell, Okla. on Dec. 16, 1950, in Hobart on Nov. 25, 1958 and in the Cameron Classic in Lawton on Jan. 9, 1981.
Southwestern Oklahoma is making its first appearance in a Lone Star Conference championship game.
On this date (March 8)
1960 - Tennessee State places four players with 20-point efforts to roll past Midwestern State 102-83 in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Wayne Davis paces MSU with 16 points while Roger Ellis finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
1966 - Earl "Big Chief" Beechum ties a school record with 46 points in front of 2,700 fans in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament to lead Midwestern to a 94-92 win over Monmouth at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Beechum cans 20 field goals and hits 6-of-7 free throws while Keith Swanson adds 16 points and Jim Wall scores 12.
1978 - Henry Crawford and Bo Lanter key a 111-71 rout of Prairie View A&M in the NAIA District 8 finals at D.L. Ligon Coliseum as Midwestern earns a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. Crawford finishes with a game-high 30 points and 17 rebounds while Lanter hits 12 of his 16 shots from the field for 26 points.
1993 - Jason Paty hits six 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 24 points as Midwestern rolls to a 95-69 over Lubbock Christian in the first round of the NAIA District 8 playoffs in Levelland, Texas. Errol Wilridge scores 16 points in 15 minutes off of the bench.
Midwestern State is 3-1 all time in games played on March 8.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
