Midwestern State and Incarnate Word battle for the Lone Star Conference lead Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
The teams are in a dead heat at 8-2 in league play as the Mustangs attempt to gain the tiebreaker with a season sweep of the Cardinals after claiming a 74-69 win earlier this season in San Antonio.
 
UIW rides a three-game winning streak into Thursday night's showdown and has won eight of their last nine.
 
The game airs live on Time Warner Sports in both markets and tips off at 5:30 p.m.
 

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MUSTANGS FAST BREAK

LAST TIME OUT:  Midwestern State's Kevin Grayer poured in a season-high 20 points and dished out eight assists to lead the Mustangs to an 86-72 win over Cameron Saturday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. MSU shot a season high 57.1 percent from the field as five players scored in double figures including senior Corbin Thomas (15 points, 5 rebounds), junior Cam Adderley (12 points), sophomore Derrell Gibbs (11 points, 3 3s) and junior Derek Kaster (11 points, 9 rebounds).
 
LAST TIME OUT (vs. Incarnate Word):  Midwestern State's Keith Spellman scored 19 points as the Mustangs overcame a 16-point first half deficit to claim a 74-69 win over Incarnate Word on Nov. 30 at the McDermott Center in San Antonio. UIW's LynDale Brown rocked the nets for a game-high 23 points and pulled down seven rebounds as the Cardinals used a hot-shooting first half (62.5 percent) to take a 43-33 halftime lead. The Mustangs outscored Incarnate Word 33-18 over the final 10 minutes of the game to claim the victory. Senior forward Corbin Thomas and junior guard Monzaigo Williams chipped in 13 points each for the Mustangs.
 
MSU, UIW TOP THE LSC:  Midwestern State and Incarnate Word hold a two-game lead over the rest of the field in the Lone Star Conference at 8-2. With a win on Thursday, the Mustangs would essentially hold a two-game lead for the No. 1 seed in next month's LSC Postseason Tournament as it would control the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Cardinals. Cameron is currently third at 6-4 followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (5-5), Tarleton State (4-5), Texas A&M-Commerce (4-5), West Texas A&M (4-6), Abilene Christian (4-6), Eastern New Mexico (4-6) and Angelo State (2-8). Only the top eight teams advance to conference postseason play.
 
5 SEASONS, 50 LSC WINS:  Midwestern State claimed its 50th Lone Star Conference victory since the start of the 2008-09 season on Jan. 5 at Angelo State. The Mustangs are a cool 52-14 (.788) during the time span which includes three Elite Eights (2010, 2011, 2012) and three Lone Star Conference titles (2009, 2010, 2012). Tarleton State is second with a 47-18 mark (.723) trailed by West Texas A&M at 37-29 (.561).
 
ROAD WARRIORS TURNING TO DOME DOMINANCE:  Midwestern State boasts a 5-2 road mark during Lone Star Conference play. The Mustangs owe road trips to West Texas A&M and Tarleton State, but close out the season with seven of its last nine LSC contests under the dome beginning on Jan. 26 against Cameron. MSU is 21-1 on its home floor under coach Nelson Haggerty and 63-3 (.955) since the start of the 2008-09 campaign which includes 42- and 21-game winning streaks. Midwestern boasts a 534-125 mark (.810) since the coliseum opened in 1969.
 
MUSTANGS RARING TO GO IN SECOND HALF:  Midwestern State has outscored or matched the opposition in 16 out of 17 games in the second half this season and is averaging 40.2 points while outscoring its foes by 8.7 points a game. The Mustangs have used the second-half rallies of overcome halftime deficits in 11 of 17 games this season. MSU has trailed by 10-or-more points in the first half seven times this season.
 
JUST GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE:  Midwestern State has out-rebounded or matched the opposition in each of its 17 outings this season as the Mustangs lead the Lone Star Conference in rebound margin (+10.1), offensive rebounds per game (16.1) and offensive rebound percentage (43.9). MSU has converted 273 offensive rebounds into 267 second chance points, which accounts for an astounding 21.7-percent of its total scoring output.
 
HAGGERTY ON A ROLL:  Midwestern State coach Nelson Haggerty goes for his 42nd win since taking over the helm of the Midwestern State program in 2011-12. Haggerty led the Mustangs to their third consecutive NCAA II South Central Region championship last season winning the school's sixth Lone Star Conference title along the way. Haggerty, who is 41-9 (.820) in two seasons at MSU, has been a part of Elite Eights in each of the last four seasons and five of the last six serving as an assistant at Central Missouri (2007, 2009) before moving to MSU as Grant McCasland's top assistant (2010, 2011) and moving into his first head coaching role in 2011-12.
 
KG ACTIVE AGAINST AGGIES:  Senior guard Kevin Grayer shook out of a scoring slump in a big way last week against Cameron. Grayer poured in a season-high 20 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting night including a 3-pointer and a 9-of-10 effort at the charity stripe Saturday against the Aggies. He added a campaign-best eight assists while pulling down three rebounds in 31 minutes of the 86-72 win. Grayer tallied 15 points and dished out four assists in Wednesday's 64-63 loss in Lawton. He has adjusted to the point guard position very well recording at least four assists in each of his last five games.
 
@DUNKEMC AT #8!!:  Midwestern State senior forward Corbin Thomas' alley-oop off of an inbound pass from Kevin Grayer on Jan. 12 against Tarleton State became the first MSU highlight to make ESPN's Top Plays of the Day countdown. The dunk has made Thomas a nominee for the State Farm College Slam Dunk and 3-Point Championships to be hosted at the site of the Final Four in Atlanta.
 
AND EVEN MORE CORBIN:  Midwestern State senior forward Corbin Thomas has scored in double figures in eight of his last 10 games including four double-doubles dating back to a home win over West Texas A&M on Dec. 5. The transfer from Missouri State leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 79th in NCAA Division II with 8.0 rebounds a game and rates sixth in the league and 41st nationally with a 57.0 field goal percentage. Thomas leads the Mustangs in scoring at 13.2 points per game.
 
CAM GETTING IT STARTED:  Midwestern State junior Cam Adderley has picked up the scoring pace after moving into the starting lineup six games ago at Eastern New Mexico (12/31). The transfer from Northeastern CC (Colo.) has scored in double figures in each of his last six games to raise his scoring average from 4.8 to 8.0 points per game during his run as a starter which includes a season-high 16-point, 5-rebound performance last week at Cameron. Adderley is averaging 12.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 27.1 minutes per game as a starter.
 
KASTER PROVIDES SPARK:  Junior forward Derek Kaster notched his fifth double-figure scoring outing of the season with 11 points and narrowly missed his first double-double of the season with nine rebounds in 26 minutes Saturday night against Cameron. The transfer from Glendale (Ariz.) CC boasts a pair of 10-rebound outings (Oklahoma Christian, Angelo State) and has posted double figures in each of his last two games.
 
NEXT TIME OUT:  Midwestern State continues its homestand Saturday night as the Mustangs play host to Texas A&M-Kingsville at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
  

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SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

INCARNATE WORD
// Thursday, 01.31.2013 // 7:30 p.m. // D.L. Ligon Coliseum // Wichita Falls, Texas
LIVE TV: Time Warner Digital 888 | Live Stats | Audio Streaming (BOB-FM) | No Video Streaming  |  Game Notes (PDF)

Incarnate Word (12-6, 8-2) rolls into D.L. Ligon Coliseum on a three-game winning streak and have victories in eight of their last nine games. The Cardinals boast one of NCAA Division II's most efficient attack ranking 14th in the nation with a 49.8 field goal percentage while turning ball over an average of just 13.4 times per game to lead the Lone Star Conference. Senior forward Dionelle Rucker leads UIW's tight rotation in scoring with 17.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a game but has plenty of help as junior guard Andre Corley (13.8 points, 48.6 3 pct.), sophomore guard Denzel Livingston (12.2 points, 4.7 rebounds), freshman guard Kyle Hittle (10.9 pionts, 3.6 rebounds), junior forward Anthony Horton (10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds) and senior guard Lyn'Dale Brown (10.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists) all average in double figures for the Cardinals. Freshman guard Mitchell Badillo (4.8 points, 3.8 assists) is the only other UIW player to play more than 10 minutes per game.

About the Series: Midwestern State and Incarnate Word meet for the 24th time on the hardwood Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Mustangs hold a slim 12-11 edge in the series which dates back to the 1991-92 season. MSU has controlled the series over the past seven seasons claiming eight of the nine contests since the start of the 2006-07 season. The Mustangs have won the last four meetings at D.L. Ligon Coliseum but the Cardinals are one of only three opponents with at least five games to the facility to control an edge over MSU under the dome at 6-5. The teams played to overtime in five consecutive meetins from Nov. 27, 2001 through Dec. 17, 2007.