<>Become A Fan Of Colonel Basketball On Facebook
<>Follow Colonel Basketball On Twitter


Game Notes I Live Webcast I Live Audio I Live Stats I Follow @EKUHoops for extensive in-game updates

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky will begin its quest for the program's sixth Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, and the NCAA Tournament bid that comes with it, on Thursday.

The third seeded Colonels (21-9, 11-5 OVC) will play the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 6 Southeast Missouri and No. 7 Eastern Illinois.

Tipoff at Municipal Auditorium is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. The live radio broadcast is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com. A live video broadcast is available on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.

Eastern Kentucky won its last tournament title in 2007. The Colonels are the No. 3 seed for the second straight year and their road to the championship game could be the same as last year. If Southeast Missouri beats Eastern Illinois, the Redhawks and Colonels will clash in the quarterfinals for the second straight year. It would be the fourth straight year the two teams have played each other in the tournament.

Much like last year, Murray State awaits EKU in the semifinals. The No. 2 seeded Racers received a double bye. MSU downed Eastern 81-73 in last year's semifinal round.

Southeast is 17-13 overall and finished 8-8 in the OVC. EIU is 11-18 this season and had a 7-9 record against league teams.

Eastern is making it 12 straight tournament appearance. EKU and Murray State are the only two teams to earn spots in each of the last 12 conference tourneys. With 164 total victories, Eastern Kentucky is the second winningest program in the OVC over the last nine seasons.

With 21 wins this season, this team is tied for the third most victories in program history. It is the program's ninth 20-win campaign. The Colonels need one more win in to record the winningest 3-year stretch in program history. EKU won 62 games from 1944-47.

Eastern Kentucky leads the OVC in scoring defense (70.0 ppg). Southeast Missouri leads the league in scoring (83.3 ppg). Eastern Illinois is 11th in scoring (67.9 ppg). EKU has held its last five opponents to an average of 69 points per game. The Colonels are 16-0 this season when holding opponents under 70 points.

In the latest release of the NCAA statistical rankings, Eastern is first in the nation in turnover margin (+6.7).

EKU won both of its meetings with Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois this season, and senior Glenn Cosey played a key role in both. The senior needs four three-pointers to tie the Eastern Kentucky single season record of 104.

Cosey banked in a 35-footer right before the buzzer to give Eastern Kentucky an improbable 79-78 win over visiting Southeast Missouri on Feb. 1. Eastern trailed by 10 points with just under four minutes to play before making a furious rally.

SEMO's Tyler Stone netted a put-back with 6.6 seconds left to put the Redhawks up two. Following Stone's bucket, Cosey took the ball just over mid-court before throwing up the winning shot. After an official review of Cosey's shot, 0.4 seconds were put on the clock.

Cosey and junior Corey Walden each posted a team-high 20 points. For Southeast Missouri, Jarekious Bradley piled up 32 points, but did not score the final 11:19 of the contest.

Cosey broke the school record, and tied the OVC mark, with 10 three-pointers as Eastern Kentucky rolled to a 100-81 victory at Eastern Illinois on Jan. 2. He broke the school record of seven three-pointers with 12:26 left in the game. He tied the OVC record with his 10th at the 9:04 mark. Cosey finished with 34 points, going 11-of-14 from the field, including 10-for-12 from behind the arc. He also had six assists and no turnovers.

Walden added 17 points and Marcus Lewis contributed 14 points. Sherman Blanford had a team-best 23 points and a game-best six rebounds for the Panthers. EKU shot 60 percent from the field and 50 percent (16-of-32) from three-point range.