The Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament returns to St. Louis this weekend at the Scottrade Center. The winner of this year’s “Arch Madness” receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
One of the main attractions of the MVC Tournament is that several former prep standouts from the St. Louis metro area get to come home and play in front of their family and friends. Here is a look at the area players who are now in the MVC.
Jordan Barnes (Indiana State): The former CBC standout set a new school single season record with 112 3-pointers. The 5’11” sophomore averages 17 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists a game.
Armon Fletcher (Southern Illinois): The 6’5” junior forward from Edwardsville averages 14.2 points to lead the Salukis in scoring. He is also averaging 5.1 rebounds while shooting 49 percent from the field and 74 percent from the free throw line.
De’Antae McMurray (Drake): The 6’2” senior guard from Alton is averaging 10.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game while shooting 72 percent from the free throw line.
Aaron Cook (Southern Illinois): The 6’2” sophomore guard from Westminster Christian is averaging 9.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range.
C.J. Rivers (Drake): The 6’2” senior guard from Cahokia is averaging 5.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game while shooting 53 percent from the field.
Noah Frederking (Evansville): The 6’4” freshman guard from Okawville, Illinois is averaging 5.4 points while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range while averaging 21 minutes a game.
Emondre Rickman (Indiana State): The 6’9” junior forward from Collinsville is averaging 3.9 points and 3.7 rebounds a game in 13 minutes of action.
Ryan Stipanovich (Bradley): The 6’7” freshman forward from DeSmet is averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds a game in 10 minutes of action.
Harris Stowe wins 20
Last season, the Harris-Stowe State University Hornets won the American Midwest Conference Tournament and advanced to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament for the first time in the school’s history. In 2018, Harris-Stowe followed up with another banner season.
The Hornets just finished their regular season with a 20-10 record, which included a school-record 16 victories and a tie for second place in the AMC. The Hornets have a balanced team led by 6’3” junior Deandre Clark and 6’8” senior Dwane Miner, who average 13 points a game. Head coach Brion Dunlap has done an excellent job at Harris-Stowe in just two seasons on the job.
GLVC Tournament comes to SIUE
The Great Lakes Valley Conference will be holding its tournament from March 2-4 at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. The first round games on Friday are as follows: No. 2 Truman State vs. No. 7 Lewis at noon; No. 3 Drury vs. No. 6 Southern Indiana, 2:30 p.m.; No. 1 Bellarmine vs. No. 8 William Jewell, 6 p.m.; No. 4 Indianapolis vs. No. 5 Maryville, 8:30 p.m.
The semifinals will be held on Saturday at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The championship game takes place on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
