(St. Louis, MO) – The deans of the Ohio Valley Conference coaches hit new milestones Thursday night and it wasn’t easy. Austin Peay’s Dave Loos and Belmont’s Rick Byrd have coached for a combined 67 years and have now amassed 1,250 victories, and they impacted countless lives.
(See our story ‘The Deans are Still Working‘)
Loos Gets 500
Austin Peay scored 52 second half points behind the scoring exploits of John Murry (32 points) and OVC scoring leader Josh Robinson (25) to defeat Eastern Illinois 85-80. The Governors (9-18, 5-8) and Panthers (13-14, 5-9) need a miracle to get into the OVC post season tournament, so this was a must win for both teams.
The victory was number 500 in the 31 year career of head coach Dave Loos. 418 of those wins have come at APSU. Four of them last spring at Music City Madness, made history and were the feel good story of college basketball.
Coach Loos has been battling cancer this season and stepped away from coaching for a brief time this season. APSU had a winless December and lost 11 in-a-row at one time, but have split their last ten games.
750 For Byrd
Evan Bradds and Dylan Windler combined to score 48 points to spark Belmont to a narrow 76 to 72 home win over Eastern Kentucky. The Bruins (19-5, 13-1) trailed by one point at the half and were forced to make key free throws at the end of the game, to hold off a Colonel team that received 28 points from freshman Asante Gist and 25 from Nick Mayo.
The win guaranteed the Bruins at least a share of the OVC East Division title and brought head coach Rick Byrd career victory 750. Wikipedia says the 36-year veteran is now 33rd on the all-time coaches’ wins list. The legendary Henry Iba is just ahead of Byrd with 755 career wins.
The Bruins have now won nine regular season championships since 2006, and belmontbruins.com says only Kansas and Gonzaga have won more regular season titles in that span.
Racers Tied for First
Demarcus Croaker – goracers.com
Murray State moved back into a first place West Division tie with UT Martin by virtue of an 84-73 victory over Southern Illinois Edwardsville. Odds on favorite to win ‘Newcomer of the Year’ Jonathan Stark led the Racers (14-13, 8-5) with 27 points. Damarcus Croaker scored 16 and was high-lighted on ESPN’s Sports Center with a thunderous dunk. SIUE fell to 0-14 in OVC play.
Keeping Hopes Alive
Tennessee State all but secured a play-off spot with a 64-52 home win over Morehead State. The Tigers (16-11, 7-7) lead Austin Peay by a game and a half for the final (eighth) spot in the OVC Tournament. TSU has two games to play and the Governors have three.
Wayne Martin collected a double-double (of course) with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Belleville, Illinois native Darreon Reddick scored 13. The Tigers have won three of their last four games.
Morehead State (13-13, 9-4) saw its four-game winning streak snapped and now must win out and have Belmont lose out to tie for first in the East. The two teams play at Belmont on Saturday.
Do Good
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The final pre-Christmas weekly all-stars of the @ValleyHoops & @OVCSports. With very rare exceptions, it's all about league play now for these leagues.
Now @DrakeBulldogsMB has moved into the top spot in @collegeinsider #midmajortop25 poll. @BradleyUMBB is 4th. @BelmontMBB is 17th.
.@SEMOMBB wins at home and is 2-0, tied with @MSUEaglesMBB atop the @OVCSports. Our prayers are with the @LRTrojans after the death of one of their managers Josh Claxton. Their game with EIU was postponed today.
Good officiating in the @SEMOMBB/@SIUEMBB in a little late game dust up.
