Rogers State (8-6, 2-4 Heartland) at Lubbock Christian (7-5, 4-1 Heartland)
Thursday, January 15 at 8 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Center)
 
About Rogers State
The Hillcats are reeling from a double overtime 85-75 loss to St. Mary's on Saturday, bringing them to 2-4 in the Heartland and an overall mark of 8-6. RSU faced some tough opponents early on in the season, falling 73-68 to No. 3 Metro State and 75-60 to No. 17 UC-Colorado Springs. The Hillcats also were edged out, 64-61, to No. 17 Edward's but defeated the Heartland's preseason favorite, Arkansas-Fort Smith, 72-68.
 
History between Chaps and Hillcats
LCU leads the all-time series 11-4 over RSU, including wins in the last four meetings. Eight of the last 10 contests have been decided by single digits, while the last game was a 72-59 Chap victory last season on January 30 at The Rip.
 
Last meeting between LCU and RSU
LUBBOCK, Texas (January 30, 2014) – Tyler Rogers' career-high 21 points carried Lubbock Christian to a 72-59 win over Rogers State, and Eli Baker recorded his eighth double-double on the season, tying his career-high with 21 points and grabbing a season-high 13 rebounds Thursday night at The Rip Griffin Center.
While Rogers and Baker were the stars offensively, it was the Chap defense that held RSU to 22 points below its 81.4 season average and only allowed a combined 19 points from RSU's two top scorers, Damien Hooks and Robinson Odoch Opong.
The Chaps' first score of the game came on a three-pointer by Anthony Brancato, and then it was Rogers versus Rogers State, with the sophomore guard slamming down a dunk from the baseline and hitting two jumpers to give LCU (10-6, 5-5 Heartland) its first lead of the night, 9-7, four minutes into the game.
A.J. Luckey kicked off a 10-0 Chap run with a three-pointer, followed by a jumper from Ridrell Holman, a trey from Rogers and a score in the paint by Baker as he was fouled. LCU held the Hillcats (12-7, 7-4 Heartland) to one field goal in an eight minute span, jumping out to a 36-21 lead on two free throws by Rogers with 2:38 left before halftime. With 90 seconds remaining in the period, Baker hustled to the floor in a scramble to retrieve a loose ball, flicking it to Rogers who found an open Beau Durham for a jumper and a 38-23 Chap advantage. LCU hit four free throws, including a pair delivered after a technical was called on Rogers State, to push the lead to 42-25 before RSU's Branden Bentley hit a shot with eight seconds remaining for a score of 42-27 heading into the half.
After the break, Hooks gave the Hillcats a bit of energy with a three-point play, but Rogers found Jeremy Ford slicing to the bucket for a score and a 44-30 Chap lead. Jeylyn Sharp came alive for RSU, scoring all of his seven points in less than two-and-a-half minutes to pull the Hillcats to within 49-39 at the 14:27 mark.
Brancato and Rogers nailed back-to-back three-pointers to quickly inflate the Chap lead to 16, and Baker scored after a Hillcat free throw to put the Chaps up 57-40 with 9:12 to play. RSU pressured the Chaps in the full court, leading to two free throws and a fastbreak layup by Deran Banton. A basket by RSU's J.C. Hartzler closed the gap to 59-48 before Durham hit a long baseline jumper with six minutes to play. Another bucket by Hartzler and a fastbreak dunk by Banton suddenly pulled the Hillcats to within single digits at 61-52.
Rogers scored a bucket and Baker converted a three-point play to increase the Chap lead to 66-52 with four minutes left on the clock. Baker and Ford each hit a pair of free throws, and Baker threw down one final Chap score at the rim to seal the team's fourth conference win in five games.
Banton scored a team-high 11 points for RSU and Odoch Opong added 10.
 
Luckey leading offensive charge
Junior guard A.J. Luckey's 18.6 ppg provides over a quarter of the Chaps points this season and ranks as the fifth highest in the Heartland. The Dallas native has led the team in scoring in eight of its 13 games, with a season-best 24 coming against Texas A&M Commerce in the season opener on November 14. Luckey is also contributing 2.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals on the year.
 
Sophomore surge for Cardona
Forward Isaac Cardona has stepped up during his second season as a Chap, nearly doubling his point average and hauling in three more rebounds per game. The Calhoun High School product is recording 10.3 points and a team-leading 5.7 boards for the Chaps, compared to 5.9 and 3.0 in 2013-14. This season, Cardona posted a career-high 21 points and nine caroms in a 72-55 victory over McMurry on November 25.
 
Duncan hits half-century mark
Head coach Todd Duncan earned win number 50 win during his fourth season at the helm of the Chaps on December 16 in the defeat of EC. Duncan is now 54-42 all-time during his tenure, including a 16-7 mark in Heartland play, which earned LCU a third-place finish last season with a 12-6 finish.