GAME NOTES
CLEVELAND, Miss. -- With just three games remaining on the year, DSU is on the road for the final time this season. This week, DSU will be taking on one of their oldest rivals and the newest team in the Gulf South Conference in Mississippi College and Auburn University Montgomery, repsectively.Tipoff against MC is set for 7:30 PM.on Thursday night. Tipoff against AUM on Saturday is at 4 PM. Philip Tang will have the call on the Statesmen Sports Network (WMJW 107.5 FM) and worldwide at GoStatesmen.com.
INSIDE THE MC SERIES: Thursday's matchup is the 99th meeting all time between the Statesmen and Choctaws. The Statesmen lead the all time series 60-37-1. The last time these two teams met was on December 21. The Statesmen won the game 61-57 behind 17 points from Keyshaun Street and 15 points from Airen Brooks. Winceton Edwards leads MC on the offensive end, scoring 13.3 of the 65.48 points per game for the Choctaws. MC also has two of the top rebounders in the GSC with Winford Ross and Zach Jones both pulling down 7.2 boards a game. The Choctaws are the second best rebounding team in the GSC averaging 38.1 a game.
INSIDE THE AUM SERIES: Saturday's matchup is the 9th meeting all-time between the Statesmen and the Warhawks with DSU having a 7-1 lead in the series. Back on February 1, the Statesmen won a thrilling 97-88 double overtime game. Keyshaun Street hit a jumper to tie the game with eight seconds left to send the game into overtime. then in the second OT, DSU scored five quick points and won by nine. AUM is led by Carlos Bell who is scoring 15.5 of the 78.5 points for the Warhawks. He is also the eighth leading scorer in the GSC. AUM is the second highest scoring team in the GSC only trailing Valdosta State. They have won three straight since losing to DSU.
STREET LEADING STATESMEN OFFENSE: Delta State enters Thursday's game with the Choctaws averaging 70.4 points per game thanks to the play of junior shooting guard Keyshaun Street Street leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game. Street led the Statesmen with 31 points last weekend in the two games against UWF and VSU. He was 5-15 from beyond the arc in shooting.
MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Junior forward Airen Brooks continues to pace DSU, averaging 14.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. The Phenix City, Ala., native and former Shelton State CC star is 10th in the Gulf South Conference in rebounding and 1st while ranking 11th in FG percentage (46.7). In 12 starts, Brooks has recorded 12 double-doubles while narrowly missing out on three more.
CARTWRIGHT CLIMBING: Freshman center Maalik Cartwright has continued to improve each and every game. He is now averaging 9.7 ppg while pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game as well. He was named GSC freshman of the week for the week of February 17th. It was the third straight time he was named the GSC freshman of the week. Only Cooper Meadows of Union University has received the freshman of the week honor more times this year at four. This past week, Cartwright recorded a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds versus UWF and 12 points and eight rebounds against VSU.
FLOOR GENERAL: Graduate-transfer Anderson McCoy has helped maintain the poise of the Statesmen on offense. He is averaging 11.7 ppg while also giving out 97 assists this season as well. In 23 games played he has 51 turnovers while averaging 38.8 minutes a game.
