Racers and Redhawks duke it out in OVC action
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Cape Giradeau, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 16th-ranked Murray State Racers head to the Show Me Center for a rematch with the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks in what could be another Ohio Valley Conference thriller.
The Racers and Redhawks already met once this season, as their first contest resulted in a Murray State 81-73 victory after a hard-fought battle. SEMO had an 11-point lead in the first encounter on Feb. 2nd before the Racers rallied to pick up the victory. Murray State has a 49-17 lead in the all-time series.
Head coach Steve Prohm's squad accomplished one of its goals over the weekend as it secured a share of the OVC regular season title with a decisive 82-63 win over the Austin Peay Governors. A win tonight would give it the outright crown. Murray State is in its 10th week of being ranked in the national polls in what has been a remarkable season. Murray State had the distinction of being the last undefeated team among the 338 Division I programs. Prohm's 23-0 start to his career was the third best in NCAA history for a first-year coach. The Racers have dominated their opposition along the way, as it has outscored rivals by 13.4 points per game so far.
Canaan has been the leader for Murray State all season. The junior guard is ranked second in the league and 20th in the nation in scoring with 19.6 ppg and is also third in the OVC in assists with 3.8 per game. Donte Poole and Ivan Aska have been steadily contributing to Murray State's success. Poole has been slumping as of late, as he has shot 30 percent or worse from the field in his last four games. Aska is grabbing a team-best 5.8 boards per game. Jewuan Long stretches the defense with his 48.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Head coach Dickey Nutt would love nothing more than to knock off the Racers in SEMO's regular season home finale. The Redhawks won their second game in a row on Saturday as they downed SIU Edwardsville 85-72 to improve to 9-4 in league action. SEMO proved in its first matchup with Murray State it is going to be no cakewalk. The Redhawks are even more dangerous as of late, as they have shot above 53 percent from the field and better than 40 percent from beyond the arc in each of their last two games. SEMO is averaging 72.0 ppg on the offensive end this season, which is the third highest average in the OVC.
SEMO is led by the trio of Tyler Stone, Marland Smith, and Leon Powell. Stone is pacing the squad with averages of 15.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The sophomore forward was excellent his last time out as he finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Smith is second on the squad in scoring with 12.8 ppg and Leon Powell contributes 11.2 points and 7.0 boards per contest. Marcus Brister does a great job distributing for the Redhawks, as he ranks second in the conference with 4.1 apg.
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<< Missouri State comes calling on No. 24 Wichita State
Wichita, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 24th-ranked Wichita State Shockers put
their new-found status as Missouri Valley Conference front-runner on the line
Wednesday as Missouri State comes to town for a league showdown at Charles
Koch Arena.
W
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take to the road in search of their fourth straight ACC win away from Chapel
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Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked Missouri Tigers continue
their quest for a Big 12 regular season crown, as they welcome the Oklahoma
State Cowboys to Columbia this evening, for a conference showdown at Mizzou
Arena.
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<< Lobos head to San Diego to take on 13th-ranked Aztecs
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atop the Mountain West Conference standings and two of those programs go up
against each other tonight, as the 13th-ranked San Diego State Aztecs
entertain the New M
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Irving was cleared to return to action.
Cavs team physician Dr. A.J. Cianflocco gave the first-overall pick the go-
ahead on Wednesday, hours before Cleveland
Rays give Maddon three-year extension >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays rewarded manager Joe
Maddon with a three-year contract extension on Wednesday.
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losing campaigns before
Huddlestone undergoes second ankle operation >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham announced Wednesday that
midfielder Tom Huddlestone will undergo a second operation in a bid to repair
an ankle injury sustained at the end of last season.
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Students arrested in TCU drug bust >>
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Police made a drug bust at Texas Christian
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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year
Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.
Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.
With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.
Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.
Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.
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