OKLAHOMA CITY -- Midwestern State continues its four-game road trip with a crucial matchup against Oklahoma Christian on Saturday afternoon. Both teams are in a congested field vying for a berth in the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament. Tipoff at Payne Athletic Center is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Midwestern State (12-6, 6-6) is coming off a 79-77 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith as Pierre Sanders leaped to block Roland McCoy's potential game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds to preserve the victory at Stubblefield Center on Thursday night.

Oklahoma Christian (8-10, 5-7) suffered a 76-71 loss against visiting Cameron (12-6, 8-4) in its last outing. The Aggies won their fourth-straight game as Reggie Prudhomme scored 21 points, and Daylon Andrews finished with 18 in the victory.

Hunter Staten, a 6-9 center, led the Eagles with 18 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Quinton Johnson finished with 15 points, and Shane Perales came off the bench to score 11. Moun'Tae Edumson, who has been the leading scorer for OC this season, poured in 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Eagles, who held a 36-31 lead at halftime.

Oklahoma Christian has lost back-to-back games on the heels of a three-game winning streak and winning six of its prior seven games.

The Eagles and Texas A&M International are each one game behind MSU and UT Permian Basin as all-four teams are currently in contention for eighth place in the conference. The top eight teams qualify for the LSC Postseason Tournament at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.

The Mustangs and UTPB are 1.5 games behind St. Edward's and Eastern New Mexico, who are both 7-4 in conference play.

Midwestern State is the fourth-highest scoring team in the LSC with 85 points per game, but the Mustangs are allowing opponents to score 79.3 points per contest, which is 14th in the LSC.

Mason Gibson, who missed the last three games due to injury, is the leading scorer for MSU and eighth in the conference with 16.8 points per game. Gibson scored 31 points in his last game at Eastern New Mexico. The 6-0 sophomore guard from Allen, Texas, is averaging 21.2 points per game on the road this season. Gibson is 81 of 104 (.779) from the free-throw line and has accounted for the fourth-most points from the foul line in the LSC.

Pierre Sanders scored a season-high 31 points in a double-overtime win against Angelo State last week and is the Mustangs second-leading scorer with 15.2 points per game. The 5-10 senior guard from Hutto, Texas, leads the conference with 5.2 assists per game and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 3.36, which is 11th-best in the nation. Sanders is one of 10 players in NCAA Division II to post a triple-double this season. In a 108-104 double overtime win against St. Mary's on Nov. 18, Sanders had 14 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

Will Shepherd hit a season-high five 3-pointers on eight attempts and scored 19 points in the loss to UTPB on Saturday. Shepherd is scoring 12.6 points per game for the Mustangs and is shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc this season (39 of 94). The 6-8 junior forward from Dallas, Texas, is shooting 44.2 percent from the floor (73 of 165) and 87.2 percent from the foul line (41 of 47).

Bakari LaStrap scored 19 points in the win over UAFS and has scored double-figures in each of his last four appearances and is averaging 15.8 points per game in that span. The 6-1 junior guard from Houston is averaging 11.6 points and 3.6 assists per game this season.

Reggie Hill posted his second double-double in the last three games with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Fort Smith on Thursday. Hill is the leading rebounder for MSU with 6.8 boards per game. The 6-8 junior forward from Melbourne, Florida, is averaging 8.4 points per game and is shooting 47.9 percent from the field (46 of 96), including 36.4 percent from 3-point range (16 of 44).

Midwestern State leads the conference and is 16th in the nation with 40.61 rebounds per game, and the Mustangs are second in the league — 17th in the nation — with 13.56 offensive rebounds per game.

Duncan Alevok is the leading shot blocker in the LSC with 32 blocks this season, which is 22nd in the nation, and MSU is blocking the second-most shots in the league with 4.6 per game. Alevok is responsible for 1.78 blocks per game.

LaStrap is 10th in the conference with 1.5 steals per game and has 24 total steals this season. Sanders also has 24 steals in 18 games. MSU is fifth in the league with 7.7 steals per game.

The Mustangs are forcing the fourth-most turnovers in the LSC with 14.11 per game and seventh in the conference with 12.3 turnovers committed per game. The plus-1.8 turnover margin is seventh-best in the league.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Oklahoma Christian, 27-15, and is 9-10 all-time when visiting the Eagles, who won the last meeting, 79-72.

Oklahoma Christian took a 47-23 halftime lead at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last season and had four players score in double figures en route to the seven-point victory. Midwestern State was 14 of 25 from the free-throw line, and Oklahoma Christian hit 28 of 44 free throws. Sanders played 35 minutes for MSU and finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Sanders was 5 of 6 from inside the arc.

Midwestern State makes its first appearance at Payne Athletic Center since a 72-64 loss in December of 2021. Oklahoma Christian used a 12-2 run midway through the second half to push the lead to a game-high 14 points after Edmundson hit a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 56-42 lead with 7:34 to play. The Mustangs shot 33.3 percent from the field (20-of-60) in defeat.

The two schools have split the last eight meetings, and the Mustangs are 1-3 in Oklahoma City during that span.
Oklahoma Christian is 11th in the LSC with 76.1 points scored per game, and the Eagles have the sixth-best scoring defense in the league, allowing 74.6 points per game. Opponents are shooting 42.2 percent from the field against OC, which is the second-best field-goal percentage defense in the conference.
Midwestern State head coach Justin Leslie says the Eagles are a good team that has gone through an up and down season.

"They have a variety of ways of scoring on you, and defensively they're unique," Leslie said. "They have a mountain of a man at center (Staten). You're not going to move him. You're not going to go through him, and so your plays and your actions look a little bit different."

"They get you off rhythm — out of your normal flow — and they have players that can make plays against you. It makes for a challenging matchup."
Staten, a fifth-year senior from Stillwater, Oklahoma, averages one block a game. He is shooting 61 percent from the field and scoring 8.6 points per game, while pulling down 4.4 rebounds a contest. Staten has scored 23 points and grabbed 26 rebounds in four appearances against the Mustangs.

In February of 2021, Staten had an eight-point, 14-rebound performance during a 79-69 win over MSU at Payne Athletic Center. He also blocked five shots in that victory. The following day, he had 10 points, nine rebounds and one block as Midwestern State scored an 85-76 victory in Oklahoma City.

Edmundson is averaging 14.2 points per game this season for the Eagles, and the 5-10 senior guard from Oklahoma City is shooting 85.7 percent from the free-throw line (78 of 91), which is seventh-best in the LSC.

Johnson, who scored a season-high 20 points in an 85-80 victory at St. Edward's on Jan. 18, has scored double figures in four consecutive games for OC, including 15 against Cameron on Thursday. The 6-6 senior guard from Oklahoma City, is averaging 10.8 points per game overall this season and 12.2 against conference foes. Johnson is the team's leading rebounder with 5.2 rebounds per game.

Karlyn Kenner, a 6-2 senior guard from South Grand Prairie, was 8 of 15 and scored a season-high 19 points in an 88-81 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 13. Kenner is shooting 49.4 percent from the field and scoring 11 points per game against LSC opponents.

Oklahoma Christian is the fourth-best rebounding team in the conference with 37.5 boards per game, and rank third in the league with 26.6 defensive rebound per contest.

The Eagles are blocking 3.6 shots per game, which is fourth-best in the LSC, and the OC bench is scoring 24.78 points per game, which is sixth-most in the conference.

Oklahoma Christian is only turning the ball over 12.2 times a game, which is sixth in the conference, but the Eagles are only benefiting from their opponents turning the ball over 11.83 times per contest, which is third-fewest in the LSC.

Kendre Talley took over as the interim head coach at OC in April of 2019, and took the job permanently in January of 2020. He joined the staff in the summer of 2017. Spencer played for OC from 2010-2014 and became the only player in Heartland Conference history to the lead league in scoring (17.5 points per game), assists (5.9 per game) and steals (2.0 per game). He earned All-America second-team honors and first-team All-Heartland Conference. He is 41-76 (.350) as the head coach for his alma mater.

Justin Leslie is in his fifth season with Midwestern State and his 17th season as a head coach at the collegiate level. His career record is 325-187 (.635), and he is 59-66 (.472) in his fifth season at MSU. Leslie competed as a 6-8 center at Azusa Pacific from 1996-2001. He is one of just five players in Golden State Athletic Conference history to play on four conference championship teams. Leslie was the head coach at his alma mater for 12 seasons before taking the reins at Midwestern State.

Midwestern State plays its third consecutive road game on Thursday night at Lubbock Christian. Tipoff at Rip Griffin Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Mustangs return home Feb. 8 to play Eastern New Mexico.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--