LUBBOCK, Texas (February 19, 2015) – A pair of free throws by Isaac Cardona with five seconds remaining allowed Lubbock Christian to squeak by St. Edward's, 60-59, and saved the Chaps from squandering a double-digit second half lead and kept them in a three-way tie for second place within the Heartland Conference.

SEU (18-7, 10-7 Heartland) held the Chaps (14-10, 11-7) without a field goal throughout the final four minutes of the contest and grabbed their initial lead since the 16:42 mark of the first half on a pair of free throws by Ramir Burton with 34 seconds to play. Ridrell Holman's baseline drive attempt fell short, forcing A.J. Luckey to foul, but Trey Lindsey's front end of his one-and-one attempt clanged off the front of the rim. Beau Durham corralled the ball with seven ticks remaining and the Chaps trailing by a single point.

LCU called a timeout and set up on the far baseline to inbound the ball. Cardona received a pass while Lindsey plowed through him, garnering a foul and a chance at the free throw line, where he calmly drained two of his game-high 22 points, giving the Chaps the one-point advantage. Following a timeout, the Hilltoppers drew up a full court play for Burton, but he was quickly pressured by Luckey and Marcus Arrington as he drove the length of the court, putting up a shot over the outstretched arms of Cardona that hit the backboard and fell off of the rim, giving the Chaps the narrow victory.

Cardona, who fell one rebound short of his first career double-double, went on a scoring surge midway through the first period to increase the Chap lead from 12-9 to 21-14 in just over three minutes. The Hilltoppers closed the gap to within three on a layup by Frankie Mgbolu four-and-a-half minutes before the break, but Holman drilled a three-pointer, Arrington converted an and-one and hit another two from the line, while Luckey made a bucket in the lane to push the Chaps ahead by 10 at the break.

The Chaps acquired their biggest lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Cardona with 11:09 on the clock to put LCU up, 45-34. SEU whittled away LCU's advantage to four points to trail by four and 5:40 to play before Cardona scored the final Chap field goal of the game to set up the closing tense minutes.

Luckey tallied 11 points for LCU, along with seven rebounds and five assists. For SEU, Mgbolu recorded a team-high 17 points.
LCU now is tied with Arkansas-Fort Smith and Texas-Permian Basin, sitting one game behind Rogers State and St. Mary's for the top spot in the league with three games remaining.

The Chaps have a showdown with Texas-Permian Basin Saturday at 3 p.m. inside the Rip Griffin Center.