Huge OVC Games Tonight

(St. Louis, MO) – For Ohio Valley Conference teams, games don’t get any bigger than tonight’s contests.

First place in the East Division and a double bye at Music City Madness is at stake when Eastern Kentucky (16-9)(8-4) plays at Belmont (16-10)(8-5). Second place in the West and one bye in the OVC tournament could be up for grabs as Eastern Illinois (15-11)(8-5) hosts UT-Martin (16-9)(8-4). Seeding and a .500 record are in the balance when Southeast Missouri travels to SIU Edwardsville (both 6-7). Meanwhile, not in a head-to-head standings battle, but just as important, Morehead State (12-16)(7-6) travels to Tennessee State.

In a year when the West Division has replaced the East as the stronger side of the OVC, both Eastern Kentucky and Belmont have suffered more losses than is typical, but here they are still battling for first place.

EKU won their February 5^th meeting in Richmond as senior Eric Stutz scored a career high 27 points. A Colonel win would give would give them a two game lead and the head-to-head tie-breaker with just three games to play.

The situation is similar for UT-Martin and Eastern Illinois. The Panthers trail Skyhawks by one game and lost by 30 in Martin, Tennessee. An EIU win would create a tie between the two teams and take the head-to-head tie-breaker out of the equation. In the previous game, four Skyhawks scored double figures and they doubled up the Panthers in the rebounding category (38-19).

There is less at stake for SIUE and SEMO, but both teams desperately want to finish over .500 in conference play. Revenge might be on the minds of the Redhawks. SIUE’s only road win of the entire season was at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

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