OVC SCORES AMONG THE BEST; CONFERENCE BOASTS FOUR OF NATION'S TOP 20 SCORERS; EIU HAS TWO IN TOP 7

When it comes to offensive standouts so far this season, Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball has to take a back seat to no league in America.

In the most recent NCAA Division I statistics that were released Monday, the OVC was the only conference in the country to have four players ranked among the nation's top 20 scorers.

And OVC member Eastern Illinois was the only team in the nation to have a pair of players ranked in the top 20 in scoring.

Eastern Illinois boasts the nation's No. 2 and No. 7 scorers in 6-foot-4 sophomore swingman Henry Domercant (24.8 ppg through the most recent NCAA statistics) and 6-2 senior guard Kyle Hill (22.7 ppg).

Murray State's Issac Spencer, a 6-6 senior forward, is 16th (21.3 ppg) and Austin Peay 6-5 senior swingman Trenton Hassell is 18th (21.1 ppg).

"Domercant and Hill could play for any team in the country. I mean any team," said Southeast Missouri State University coach Gary Garner. "Hassell is probably going to be a first-round (NBA) draft pick. And Spencer could play just about anywhere in the country.

"I don't think there's any doubt that this is the best the OVC has been in the four years I've been in the league."

The OVC also boasts one of the nation's top 3-point shooters as Southeast's Amory Sanders ranks third at 54.2 percent. Sanders, who had been second, trails Montana State's Justin Brown (55.3 percent) and North Carolina State's Archie Miller (62.0 percent).

Five-team race

The conference race is barely a few games old but already things are beginning to shape up like most of the league's coaches had envisioned.

OVC basketball was expected to feature a big five, a potential sleeper and then three real longshots at the bottom.

A lot can still happen, but that's the way things are looking right now.

The big five, as picked (in order) in the conference preseason poll, are Austin Peay, Murray State, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Illinois.

Tennessee Tech is at the top of the league right now after Tuesday's big win over Eastern Illinois as the Eagles prevailed despite 31 points by Domercant. The 4-0 Eagles also own a huge victory at Southeast.

Austin Peay is second at 4-1 heading into tonight's first-place battle at home against Tennessee Tech.

Murray State and Eastern Illinois are in a virtual tie for third place at 2-1 and 3-2, respectively.

Southeast has struggled somewhat so far at a sixth-place 2-3, with the defeats coming against Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and Murray State. Ordinarily, losing to those strong squads wouldn't be so bad, but two of the setbacks were at home.

Tennessee-Martin, picked sixth in the preseason poll and thought by many to be a potential breakthrough club, is just 1-3, but the losses -- all on the road -- have been to Murray State, Eastern Illinois and Southeast. And the Skyhawks pulled off the shocker of the league season so far when they stunned Austin Peay Monday night.

Morehead State and Tennessee State -- picked tied for seventh in the preseason poll -- and Eastern Kentucky (picked last) have pretty much held form so far, although even they appear to perhaps be a bit better than most people had envisioned as the trio turned in some respectable non-conference results.

Morehead State is actually in fifth place right now at 2-2, although the Eagles' wins have been over Tennessee State (tied for seventh with Tennessee-Martin at 1-3) and last-place Eastern Kentucky (0-4).

nSoutheast, which was the OVC's top defensive team last season, again ranks first in the league's three major statistical defensive categories.

The Indians are first in scoring defense (65.8 ppg), field-goal percentage defense (.407) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.308).

Eastern Illinois is the OVC's highest-scoring team (82.7 ppg), which should make for an intriguing matchup when the squads square off Saturday night in Charleston, Ill.