South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (3-12) at Lubbock Christian (5-3)
Saturday, January 3 at 5 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Center)
 
About South Dakota School of Mines
SDSMT is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, although the Hardrocker basketball teams are competing as independents this season. The Hardrockers are wrapping up a long tour throughout West Texas and New Mexico that began on December 30, competing at Tarleton State, Midwestern State, Eastern New Mexico, LCU and completing the road swing at University of the Southwest on Monday.
 
History between Chaps and Hardrockers
Tonight marks the first meeting between the squads.
 
Luckey leading offensive charge
Junior guard A.J. Luckey's 19.4 ppg provides over a quarter of the Chaps points this season and ranks as the fourth highest in the Heartland. The Dallas native has led the team in scoring in seven of its eight games, with a season-best 24 coming against Texas A&M Commerce in the season opener on November 14. Luckey is also contributing 3.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals on the year and leads the league in free throw percentage (85.7).
 
Impressive start in conference play
The Chaps, picked to finish sixth in the 11-team Heartland Conference, picked up a pair of victories during the opening weekend of league play. LCU demolished the preseason number three pick, Texas A&M International, 73-55, and outlasted second-picked St. Mary's, 64-62. The Chaps and St. Edward's (3-0) are the only unbeatens in conference play.
 
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 9.9 points and a team-leading 6.4 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 52-40 all-time during his tenure, including a 14-6 mark in Heartland play, which earned LCU a third-place finish last season with a 12-6 finish.
 
Luckey free throws lift Chaps to another conference victory
LUBBOCK, Texas (December 20, 2014) – Two free throws by A.J. Luckey with 14 seconds remaining doubled Lubbock Christian's lead to four versus St. Mary's and allowed the Chaps to escape with a 64-62 victory Saturday afternoon at the Rip Griffin Center after a long distance attempt by the Rattlers fell short at the buzzer, leaving LCU and No. 25 St. Edward's as the only unbeaten teams in Heartland Conference play.
Luckey scored a game-high 21 points that included a 9-for-12 performance at the line while Matthew Alford recorded a dozen. In the narrow victory, the Chaps (5-3, 2-0 Heartland) committed a season-high 18 turnovers and gave up 11 offensive boards to the Rattlers (4-5, 1-1 Heartland) but hit 18-of-23 free throws in the second half.
Alford hit one of two free throws to give the Chaps a 61-55 lead with 1:12 left on the clock before St. Mary's Marvin Whitt drove through the lane to hit a bucket and draw a foul, but missed the free throw, whittling the advantage to four with 1:01 remaining in the game. LCU then struggled in the backcourt, being called for three consecutive turnovers, with one miscue resulting in a Rattler field goal to trim the lead to a pair. On the ensuing inbounds, Alford struggled containing the ball, throwing a heave down court to Ridrell Holman as the Chaps called a timeout. St. Mary's pushed the officials to review the clock for a 10-second backcourt violation, but after several minutes it was determined that LCU still retained possession.
Luckey then connected on his two free throws, but St. Mary's Isaiah Matthews grabbed an offensive board and scored on the putback while drawing a foul. His successful charity shot pulled the Rattlers to within a point and five ticks on the clock. On the inbounds, Durham was fouled while in the double bonus and hit the front end, giving the Rattlers a final attempt that ended up falling short.
After leading 29-22 at the half, LCU held St. Mary's without a field goal for nearly five minutes after the break and seemed to be in decent shape following a trio of free throws by Luckey to put the Chaps up 39-25 with just over 15 minutes left to play, but the Rattlers went on a 10-2 run within the next three minutes to slice to lead to six at the 12:19 mark. Marcos Schuster gave the Chaps a nine-point lead on a baseline drive with 3:42 to go before the Rattlers responded with six straight points to cut the lead to 58-55 leading into the frantic finish.
For St. Mary's, Marvin Binney totaled 13 points, and Kriston Minor and Whitt each had 10.