It’s time to forget whatever has happened during the regular season and move on to what really matters: the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Eastern’s loss to Tennessee Tech and Murray State’s win at Tennessee-Martin Saturday means nothing, as each team must win three more games to achieve their dreams of making it to the NCAA tournament.

The Panthers and Racers come together at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Regional Special Events Center for the second straight year.

“It’s tournament time, and this is the time of year that you play for every year,” Murray State head coach Tevester Anderson said. “In a league like the Ohio Valley Conference, the best chance you have of making the NCAA Tournament is to win this week.”

The Racers (16-11, 9-7) beat the Panthers (14-14, 9-7) in both regular season games, giving them the tie breaker and home-court advantage for the first round.

“I’m happy to be hosting a first round game and be playing a team that we’ve beaten twice this year,” Anderson said. “I think that our kids are pretty loose right now and we’re pretty confident.”

One thing will be different compared to the first two match ups this season. The Racers will be without junior forward Chris Schumate, who broke a finger on his shooting hand against Tennessee-Martin Saturday. He will likely miss the rest of the season with the injury.

Schumate averages 13.1 points per game and 4.4 rebounds this season and is a key leader for the Racers.

“It’s unfortunate for our team and it’s unfortunate for Chris,” Anderson said. “He’s been a consistent guy for us during the conference season and it’ll certainly be a big loss for our team.”

Anderson said he will look to senior Antoine Whelchel to replace Schumate in the starting lineup. Whelchel brings in eight points per game and has started in 16 games.

While the Racers will be looking to replace Schumate in the lineup, the Panthers will look to find scoring help for senior guard Henry Domercant. Domercant had more than half of the Panthers’ points in their loss to Tennessee Tech last Saturday.

Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said he is confident his five seniors will step up and put forth a good effort.

Samuels stressed Eastern will need to be strong on the glass to be successful against Murray. The Panthers were out-rebounded by 18 Saturday at Tech.

“That was our achilles heel at Tennessee Tech, and Murray is just as strong a rebounding team, so our focus will be to keep Murray from getting easy baskets on put-backs,” Samuels said.

Eastern will also have to shut down senior center James Singleton. Singleton blew up for 38 points including eight three-pointers two weeks ago at the Regional Special Events Center.

Anderson said their key will be containing Domercant.

“(Domercant) is at the top of his game right now and that’s a very scary situation,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to find a way to do a solid job defending him without fouling.”

The winner will face the winner of No. 1 seed Austin Peay vs. No. 8 seed Eastern Kentucky at noon Friday in Nashville, Tenn.