(St. Louis, MO) – Have you ever seen a race like this? The Ohio Valley’s West Division is as wide open as you can imagine. Three of the six teams are tied for first place and two other teams are within three games of that top spot.
Increasing the tension surrounding that race is the OVC’s play-off structure. The division winner receives a double bye at Music City Madness and the top eight teams across the entire conference qualify for the season ending tournament. If the season ended today, only those teams tied for first would even be guaranteed a spot in post-season play.
After Murray State’s (12-12, 6-4) Thursday loss to East Division leading Belmont (17-4, 11-0), the Racers fell into a tie with Southeast Missouri (11-14, 6-4) and UT Martin (16-9, 6-4). The play-off structure increases the pressures and the gravity of each OVC game.
While Murray State and Belmont take the day off, Saturday provides some extremely important contests. First, for those fighting for a post-season spot, there are huge head-to-head games.
Tennessee Tech (9-16, 5-5) @ Eastern Illinois (11-12, 3-7) – 3:15 pm – OVC-DN
The suddenly relevant again Panthers have won two straight games and have revived their slim play-off hopes, while the Golden Eagles have lost two-in-a-row and are trying to fight off the three teams directly behind them. EIU’s critical Thursday win over Tennessee State showed continued growth in the production of Demetrius McReynolds. The Panthers are one game behind both TSU and Austin Peay for the final play-off spot and two behind the Tech.
Tennessee State (13-10, 4-6) @ Austin Peay (8-16, 4-6) – 6:30 pm – OVC-DN
The Governor’s Wednesday win at Eastern Kentucky moved them past EKU and into a tie with the Tigers after their lost to EIU. These two teams are tied for the final play-off spot. APSU seems to have found some answers to their season long struggles, winning four of their last seven games. Meanwhile, TSU has lost four of their last five. Austin Peay’s leading scorer, Josh Robinson, sat out Wednesday’s game with an eye issue. Head coach Dave Loos’ next win will be number 500.
Morehead State (10-12, 6-3) @ Southeast Missouri (11-14, 6-4) – 4:15 pm – OVC-DN
SEMO’s four-game winning streak was snapped Thursday at Jacksonville State, but the Redhawks are undefeated in OVC home games and a win Saturday, would guarantee them, no worse than a tie for first in the West when the dust of this weekend’s games settles. The Eagles have won four of their last five games and interim head coach Preston Spradlin has his team leading the OVC (in conference games only) in rebounding margin and second in scoring and first in free-throw percentage. The Eagles are currently second in the East, but just one-half game in front of those three West Division title contenders and Jacksonville State from the East.
Jacksonville State 14-11, 6-4) @ SIUE (5-19, 0-10) – 4:00 pm – Fox Sports Midwest
Knocking off SEMO Wednesday continued Ray Harper’s magical turn around at JSU. The Gamecocks are the surprise team of the OVC. JSU takes an amazing 4-1 conference road record with them today to Edwardsville, Illinois.
Eastern Kentucky (10-15, 3-7) @ UT Martin (16-9, 6-4) – 6:00 pm – OVC-DN
EKU’s overtime loss at Austin Peay placed their play-off hopes on life support as they visit the Skyhawks. UTM’s Anthony Stewart has performed admirably as a first year head coach and his team has won five of their last six games. Nothing UTM does impresses you. They just win.
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.@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.
BTW, @LindenwoodWBB is 2-0. @CoachAmyEagan has that program headed the right direction.
With @SkyhawkHoops winning on the road and @LUMensBball winning at home, right now, 5 @OVCSports teams are 1-1.
