Curtain Raising Weekend in MVC & OVC

(St. Louis, MO) – Several newcomers are already announcing their arrivals in the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences. Several were honored by their respective conferences this week.

Missouri Valley teams went 8 and 6 during the opening weekend, while OVC teams won 13 of 18 games in a tremendously successful start to the season.

Missouri Valley Conference

Missouri State exploded out of the gates with a pair of lopsided victories. The Bears eclipsed the 90 point mark twice in defeating Alabama A & M and OVC member Jacksonville State.

Leading the Bears attack was the Valley’s Player of the Week AND Newcomer of the Week, Alize Johnson. The 6’9 transfer from Frank Phillips College averaged 18 points and eight rebounds for the two contests while making 14 of the 17 shots he attempted. He is among the league leaders in seven different categories.

Missouri State plays Fontbonne on Thursday.

Ohio Valley Conference

Tennessee State is off to a roaring start with three wins. Senior guard Tahjere McCall led the Tigers to those three wins and has been named the OVC Player of the Week. McCall averaged 15.3 points, five rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals for the very busy Tigers. The 3-0 start is the first for TSU since the 1994-95 season. Their games were part of the Santa Clara Cable Car Classic.

Jonathan Stark arrived on the Murray State campus with strong reputation and in the Racers’ first game he did not disappoint. The junior transfer from Tulane scored 19 points, including 12 of Murray State’s final 15 points and the game winning 3-pointer with under two seconds left to defeat the MVC’s visiting Illinois State. Stark also grabbed six rebounds and was named the OVC Newcomer of the Week.

MSU battles NCAA Tournament qualifier Middle Tennessee State tonight and TSU tangles with the Blue Raiders on Saturday.

The OVC separates newcomers and freshmen and this week’s Freshman of the Week is Eastern Kentucky’s Asante Gist. The East Orange New Jersey high school teammate of Wichita State’s Markis McDuffie debuted with a 21 point – seven rebound – five assist performance in Eastern Kentucky’s 97-87 win over IUPUI.

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