Lubbock Christian (13-8, 10-4 Heartland) at Arkansas-Fort Smith (13-9, 9-5 Heartland)
Thursday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Smith, Ark. (Stubblefield Center)
 
About Arkansas-Fort Smith
The Lions are 13-9 overall and 9-5 in Heartland Conference play.
 
History between Chaps and Lions
LCU is 2-0 over UAFS dating to last season.
 
Last meeting between LCU and UAFS
LUBBOCK, Texas (January 17, 2015) – Marcos Schuster scored 10 points within the final three minutes on his way to a career-high 19 points, and A.J. Luckey scored a game-high 20 to guide Lubbock Christian to a 71-63 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith Saturday afternoon at the Rip Griffin Center to end a two-game conference losing streak.
The game was a tale of two halves, with Luckey heading the offense with 15 of the Chaps (8-6, 5-2 Heartland) 28 points during the first 20 minutes while Schuster contributed 17 after the break, leading LCU to outscore the Lions (8-8, 4-4 Heartland), the league's preseason number one pick, 43 to 26 following intermission. Isaac Cardona was a force on the glass, posting a career-high 16 rebounds and falling one point short of his first career double-double. In addition to the Chaps production, LCU held the Heartland Conference's third leading scorer, Seth Youngblood, to zero field goals with his only four points coming from the free throw line.
Trailing UAFS 37-28 at half, the Chaps opened with a 13-0 run and did not allow the Lions to add to the scoreboard until nearly six minutes in when Dusan Stojanovic hit two free throws. Fort Smith did not score a field goal until 13:28 left in the second half to knot the game at 41-all.
Two free throws by Matthew Alford put the Chaps up 46-45 with 9:29 to play and another score by Alford on a baseline jumper pushed LCU in front, 48-45. A strong offensive board and putback by Cardona two minutes later extended the Chap lead to 50-45.
The Lions' Blake Branham drained a three pointer and two free throws to give UAFS up 53-52 with 4:22 on the clock. Luckey then netted two free throws to put LCU up 54-53 prior to eight LCU points, all by Schuster to give the Chaps a 62-57 edge with 1:40 to play. A layup by Marcus Arrington extended the lead to seven, and an additional seven consecutive free throws by Alford, Schuster and Luckey put LCU up by double digits to snap a two-game losing streak.
For UAFS, Branham and Josh Harmon had a team-high 13 points.
 
Chaps retain piece of first place behind play from Schuster and Durham
LUBBOCK, Texas (February 7, 2015) – Marcos Schuster registered a career-high 23 points and Beau Durham racked up his second double-double in a 79-67 win over Newman on Saturday afternoon at the Rip Griffin Center to continue to share the top spot within the Heartland Conference.
Playing without leading scorer A.J. Luckey due to an injury suffered in Thursday's win against Oklahoma Christian, the Chaps rallied behind Durham tying a career-high with 10 boards and scoring 17 points, and Schuster logging a career night. The Chaps (13-8, 10-4 Heartland) now tied alongside St. Mary's and Arkansas-Fort Smith at the top of the league, with St. Edward's and Rogers State sitting one game behind in second place.
With the Chaps leading the Jets (11-9, 7-9 Heartland) 24-20 and 6:28 left to play in the first half, Schuster went on a scoring tear by hitting a jumper, a three-pointer, a pair of free throws and a layup, while Jacob Dawson threw in another triple to extend LCU's lead to 38-26 with 2:40 remaining before the break.
Durham did the brunt of his damage within the first 20 minutes, recording 13 points and nine rebounds in 15 minutes of play, including a tip-in at the halftime buzzer to put the Chaps up 42-30 at the break.
The Jets were never able to close within single digits the rest of the way as the Chaps extended the lead to as much as 22 with just over five minutes to play following a three-pointer and two free throws by Schuster.
Ridrell Holman totaled 15 points and Isaac Cardona also tallied double-digits with 13 for the Chaps.
For Newman, Espinoza led his team with 16 points.