James Horne of the Clarksville (TN) Leaf Chronicle is the RTC correspondent for the Ohio Valley Conference.

Current OVC Standings (as of Dec. 4, 2009)

1. Murray State  (1-0, 6-1)
2. Eastern Illinois  (1-0, 4-2)
3. Austin Peay  (1-0, 4-4)
4. Morehead State  (1-0, 2-3)
5. Tennessee Tech  (0-0, 3-5)
6. Jacksonville State  (0-0, 2-4)
7. Eastern Kentucky  (0-1, 5-2)
8. Southeast Missouri State  (0-1, 2-6)
9. UT Martin  (0-1, 1-4)
10. Tennessee State  (0-1, 1-7)
11. SIU Edwardsville  (0-0, 0-6)

THIS WEEK IN THE OVC

LOOS ASCENDS: Undoubtedly the biggest story in the OVC this week is about a coach.  Austin Peay’s Dave Loos just won the 400^th game of his 24-year career in the Govs’ 76-71 overtime win over Southeast Missouri on Dec. 3. That made him 400-318 all-time.  With a victory over EIU on Dec. 5, Loos would tie would tie Cal Luther – former coach at Murray State and UT Martin – for the most victories in OVC history with 319. Loos has been with Austin Peay for 20 seasons and owns a 318-265 record. Loos is already Austin Peay’s all-time winningest coach.

EAGLES VS. RACERS: The two teams picked to win the OVC this year meet for the first time in Murray, Ky., on Dec. 5.  Both defending champion Morehead State and Murray State were the preseason choice to win the league as both gained 10 first-place votes and 154 points.  The Racers have actually won six in a row since a season-opening loss five-point loss to No. 12 California. Murray State has won those five games by an average of 32.2 points.  Morehead State junior Kenneth Faried had his third double-double in four games this season, scoring 12 points and pulling down 15 rebounds in 34 minutes of play in a loss to Kent State on Nov 29. Faried has had a double-double in every game except the team’s season-opening loss at No. 4 Kentucky.

THIS WEEK’S RESULTS

December 3

• @Murray State 62, Eastern Kentucky 60
• Morehead State 74, @UT Martin 66
• Eastern Illinois 83, @Tennessee State 81 (3OT)
• @Austin Peay 76, Southeast Missouri 71 (OT)

THIS WEEKEND’S GAMES

December 4

• SIU Edwardsville at Drake, 7:30 p.m.

December 5

• Tennessee Tech at Jacksonville State, 4:30 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)
• SIU Edwardsville vs. North Dakota/UT Arlington, 5:00 p.m. (Des Moines, Iowa)
• Eastern Kentucky at UT Martin, 6:00 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)
• Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay, 7:30 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)
• Southeast Missouri at Tennessee State, 7:30 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)
• Morehead State at Murray State, 7:30 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)

KEY MATCH UPS

• Morehead State at Murray State: League favorites square off for first time
• Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay: Pecking order game. APSU picked third in preseason, EIU fourth. EIU is without star Romain Martin.

OVC TEAM NOTES

• AUSTIN PEAY GOVS (2-5, 1-0 OVC).  Govs won their fourth OVC opener in a row with victory over Southeast Missouri.
• EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS (4-2, 1-0 OVC).  Panthers rallied from nine down in regulation to beat Tennessee State 83-81 in three overtimes in OVC opener.
• EASTERN KENTUCKY COLONELS (5-2, 0-1 OVC).  Junior Justin Stommes was named OVC Player of the Week after averaging 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists/game in four contests last week. That included hitting the game-winning 3-pointer with 9.7 seconds left against UTSA last week.
• JACKSONVILLE STATE GAMECOCKS (2-4, 0-1 OVC).  The Gamecocks, along with Tennessee Tech, will play just one OVC game this week, against each other. Everyone else in the league will play two games.
• MOREHEAD STATE EAGLES (2-3, 1-0 OVC).  Takes on co-league favorite Murray State there on Dec. 5
• MURRAY STATE RACERS (6-1, 1-0 OVC).  See above.
• SOUTHEAST MISSOURI REDHAWKS (2-6, 0-1 OVC).  The Redhawks have lost 26 straight conference games, the longest active streak in the nation.
• TENNESSEE STATE TIGERS (1-6, 0-1 OVC).  Josh Sain averaged 15.3 points and 2.0 steals/game while hitting 47.2 percent (17-of-36) from the floor to earn this week’s OVC Newcomer of the Week honor.
• TENNESSEE TECH GOLDEN EAGLES (3-4, 0-0 OVC).  Tennessee Tech opens up OVC play at Jacksonville State on Dec. 5.
• UT MARTIN SKYHAWKS (1-4, 0-1 OVC).  UT Martin is off to a 1-4 start under first-year head coach Jason James.

rtmsf (3998 Posts)

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 5:45 am by rtmsf and is filed under Checking In On, ovc. Tagged: austin peay, dave loos, eastern illinois, eastern kentucky, jacksonville st, jason james, josh sain, justin stommes, kenneth faried, morehead st, murray st, ovc, romain martin, se missouri st, siu-edwardsville, tennessee st, tennessee tech, ut-martin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.