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RICHMOND, Ky. – There will be a lot on the line for both teams when Eastern Kentucky plays host to Jacksonville State on Thursday.
 
The Colonels (17-10, 9-5 OVC) can finish first in the Ohio Valley Conference East Division and claim the No. 2 seed in the league tournament by winning both of their remaining games.  The Gamecocks (12-17, 5-9 OVC) have won three games in a row and need to win their two remaining games in order to qualify for one of the eight spots in the OVC Tournament.
 
The game, sponsored by Barnes & Noble at the EKU Bookstore, will start at 7 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 free video broadcast is available on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.
 
Eastern Kentucky stayed on track to finish first in the East by beating Austin Peay, 76-64, on Monday – the first of three home games this week.  Senior Eric Stutz scored a game-best 20 points and is now shooting 73.2 percent from the field and averaging 22 points per game in his last five home games.  Freshman Paul Jackson handed out a career-best seven assists against the Governors.
 
EKU is second in the OVC in scoring defense (63.4 ppg).  Jacksonville State is 10th in the OVC in scoring (63 ppg), last in field goal percentage (38.1 percent) and last in three-point field goal percentage (29.0 percent).  However, in the first meeting this season between these two teams, JSU shot 50 percent from the field.
 
The Colonels rank second in the nation in turnover margin (+7.8), but when these two teams met in January, EKU turned the ball over two more times than Jacksonville State.
 
Eastern's Corey Walden is the only player ranked in the top-10 in the OVC in scoring (2nd), field goal percentage (9th), assists (7th) and steals (1st), but he has been limited the last two games due to a minor injury.
 
Walden is averaging 18 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals per game against OVC teams.  He has 29 steals in his last nine games.  Walden needs 10 steals to break the EKU record for career steals (221).
 
Darion Rackley, a 6-foot-3, 170-pound senior guard, leads Jacksonville State in scoring (15.4 ppg).  Jeremy Watson, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, leads the team with 5.4 boards per contest.  Two others average five or more. 
 
D.J. Felder (15 points) and Jamal Hunter (13 points) led JSU to a 55-50 win over Tennessee State on Saturday.  The Gamecocks shot just 35 percent, but out-rebounded TSU by five, committed four fewer turnovers and out-scored the Tigers at the free throw line by nine.
 
EKU leads the all-time series with Jacksonville State 15-8.  The Colonels have won eight of the last nine against JSU.  Eastern is 10-0 all-time against the Gamecocks in Richmond.