EDMOND, Okla. – Midwestern State battles former rival Central Oklahoma in the Bronchos' home opener Wednesday night at Hamilton Fieldhouse. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Midwestern State rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to take a one-point lead with 45 seconds remaining, but couldn't keep Texas Wesleyan off of the offensive glass eventually falling, 70-66. Freshman guard Evan McCarthy keyed the late push hitting a long 3-pointer then completed a traditional three-point play to give the Mustangs a brief 66-65 lead with under a minute to play. He finished with 12 points. Senior guard Darius Thompson tallied 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and completed a double-double with 11 rebounds. Senior guard D'monta Harris also garnered a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
 
MUSTANGS, BRONCHOS RENEW STORIED SERIES
Midwestern State and Central Oklahoma enjoyed many battles throughout the years first as regional rivals, then as Lone Star Conference foes. The Mustangs own a 29-23 edge in the series which dates back to 1948 and have won the last three. This is the first meeting between the programs since 2012. MSU claimed wins in its last two trips to Edmond including a 73-66 victory in the 2011 South Central Region Championship game on its way to a third Elite Eight appearance. Here are the results of the last 10 meetings between Midwestern State and Central Oklahoma:
 

Date	Result	Location
2/18/12	Midwestern State 69, Central Oklahoma 48	Wichita Falls
1/5/12	Midwestern State 80, Central Oklahoma 61	Edmond, Okla.
3/15/11	Midwestern State 73, Central Oklahoma 66	Edmond, Okla.
1/8/11	Central Oklahoma 68, Midwestern State 61	Edmond, Okla.
12/3/09	Midwestern State 96, Central Oklahoma 89	Wichita Falls
11/25/08	Central Oklahoma 92, Midwestern State 78	Edmond, Okla.
1/5/08	Central Oklahoma 82, Midwestern State 67	Wichita Falls
3/2/07	Midwestern State 78, Central Oklahoma 74	Wichita Falls
1/14/06	Midwestern State 68, Central Oklahoma 61	Wichita Falls
1/13/05	Central Oklahoma 93, Midwestern State 85	Edmond, Okla.

  
ABOUT THE BRONCHOS
Central Oklahoma, who play nine of its first 11 games on the road, take on Midwestern State in its home opener Wednesday night at Hamilton Fieldhouse. The Bronchos have lost four of five outside of Edmond with their lone win coming against new Lone Star Conference member Oklahoma Christian – 63-44. Junior forward Dashawn McDowell paces the Bronchos' attack with 10.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while redshirt-freshman guard Justin Nimmer pitches in 10.4 points and grabs a team-high 5.2 rebounds a game. The defense-first Bronchos limit the opposition to 65 points per game and to 40.3 percent shooting and been narrowly outscored by three points per game. Veteran coach Bob Hoffman is in his first season at the helm at Central Oklahoma following an 11-year run at Division I Mercer. He has also enjoyed successful stints at Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist and Texas-Pan American.
 
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
Midwestern State ranks second in the Lone Star Conference field goal percentage defense limiting the opposition to 40.3 percent shooting. That ranks 58th in NCAA D2. The Mustangs held their last three opponents to worse than 41-percent shooting, while UC Colorado Springs managed 44.2 percent shooting in the opener. MSU is 37th nationally and fourth in the LSC in 3-point percentage defense holding the opposition to 27 percent from beyond the arc. Three of the Mustangs' four opponents managed no better than a 25-percent success rate on 3-point attempts.
 
ALL ABOARD WITH COACH LESLIE
Justin Leslie makes the move to Wichita Falls following a highly successful run at Azusa Pacific. He led his alma mater to an average of 22 wins per season in his 12 season at the helm including nine 20-win campaigns, two Pacific West Conference titles and an NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance in 2015.  Currently, Leslie boasts a 266-125 record (.680) as a collegiate head coach.
 
SECOND HALF SENSATION
Darius Thompson averaged 17.5 points per game last week in games against West Texas A&M and Texas Wesleyan. Most of that came in the second half when the senior guard scored 14 of those points on 10-of-15 shooting including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. For the season, Thompson leads the team scoring 16.3 points per game which ranks 13th in the Lone Star Conference. He is coming off of his first double-double of the season going for a season-high 21 points with 11 rebounds against Texas Wesleyan. Thompson scored at least 14 points in each of the Mustangs' four games this season.
 
HARRIS POLL: TRENDING UP
Senior guard D'monta Harris enjoyed a stellar week averaging 17.5 points and 10 rebounds against West Texas A&M and Texas Wesleyan. He poured in a season-high 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his first double-double Saturday against Texas Wesleyan which followed a 15-point, 8-rebound effort against WT. Harris has scored in double figures in three of four games and had nine in the other. The Pontiac, Mich. native ranks fifth in the LSC with 7.5 rebounds per game.
 
PRESENTING McBUCKETS
Evan McCarthy enjoyed a breakout last week scoring in double digits against West Texas A&M and Texas Wesleyan. The freshman guard from Mansfield dropped in a season-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three 3-pointers against West Texas A&M, then proved clutch down the stretch against Texas Wesleyan. He connected on a long 3-pointer with just under two minutes to play then converted a traditional three-point play driving the right baseline to give MSU its only lead of the second half with 48 seconds remaining. The six points were half of McCarthy's production as he finished with 12 points and four assists against the Rams. The splurge improved his season scoring average to 8.5 points.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State takes on Central Missouri as part of the MIAA Thanksgiving Challenge at Municipal Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in Kansas City. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.