Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. – It was a long time coming, but the Louisiana College men can finally say that they defeated rival Mississippi College for the first time since 2004 after an 84-71 showing versus the Choctaws Monday night.
The last time LC (8-8, 7-5 American Southwest Conference) defeated Mississippi College (8-9, 5-7 ASC),
Chukwuma Ekeh, the Wildcats' lone senior, was a freshman at Holy Savior Menard in Alexandria, starting wing
Danny Sumner's was a middle-school student watching his older brother, Scott, play for LC and coach
Gene Rushing was flirting with his 200th, rather than 300th, career win.
“That's a big monkey off all of our backs,” Ekeh, who scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds, said, “especially in the fashion that we did it.”
Indeed, the Wildcats needed no last-second miracles in this game. In fact, the last minute was played without incident as both teams ran base offenses and defenses.
It was a matural occurrence after LC, paced by field goals by 6-foot-9 junior
Korey Salmon and late free throws by sophomore wing
Phillip George, had built a double-digit lead.
“Before the game tonight, Coach Rushing went around the locker room and asked us all,'Have you ever beaten MC?'” Salmon said. “No one in the room ever had. They've beaten us pretty bad all the way back to my freshman year. We were all ready for that streak to end.”
Salmon certainly did his part, stealing the show with a 27-point, 14-rebound double-double to which he added four assists, three steals and a block. And, for the second consecutive game, he never left the court.
“That was another thing that Coach Rushing said,” Salmon recalled. “He sat all of us starters down and asked us, 'Why don't you ever produce against MC?' It was a good question, because none of us has ever produced against MC.I thought about that and had that on my mind when the game started. I wanted to do everything I could to produce and get the win.”
It was a critical win for the Wildcats, not just for morale versus and old rival, but because it gave LC sould possession of third place in the ASC East, a spot that would earn the Wildcats a berth in the ASC Tournament should they hold serve through the last eight games of the year.
“It separates us from a lot of the pack,” Ekeh said. “Now we've got third place to ourselves and can try to move up the latter. It was a definitely a confidence booster for us.”
Mississippi College, which now occupies fourth place in the ASC East, had a big showing from their own big man, center Chad Jones, who came off the bench to post a 25-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Guard Marlon Ester added 17 points in the losing effort.
Next up for LC, which wrapped a 3-1, four game home stand with Monday's win, will be a two-game conference road trip with visits to Texas-Tyler on Thursday and LeTourneau on Saturday. LC returns home on Feb. 3 for a game against Texas-Tyler, LC's annual “Fill the Field House” game.
The win was the 298th of Rushing's career.
