LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (7-4, 1-0 Heartland) at ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY (2-9, 0-2 Heartland)
Saturday, December 31 - 3:00 PM
Bill Greehey Arena (San Antonio, Texas)
Radio: KJTV AM950/100.7FM
All-Time Series: Series is tied at 4-4
Tweet #LCUvsStMU
 
HISTORY BETWEEN THE SQUADS
The series between the Rattlers and the Chaparrals goes back to 2012 before Lubbock Christian became a member of the Heartland Conference. Since joining the Heartland, LCU has gone 4-2 against St. Mary's with their most recent victory coming in an 87-38 rout last season (2/25/16) inside Rip Griffin Center.
 
HEARTLAND PLAY
Although Lubbock Christian has only played one conference contest, the Chaps are sitting in third place after knocking down Dallas Baptist University 65-58 (12/17/16) in Dallas, Texas. LCU's Brennen Fowler has grabbed back to back Heartland Conference Player of the Week Honors (11/21/16 and 11/29/16) and is the only Heartland player to win to win the honor twice this season.
 
LCU leads the conference in defensive shooting percentage by holding opponents to 41.6% from the field. The Chaps also lead the Heartland in defensive team rebounds (323), while averaging 39.6 total rebounds per game. Lubbock Christian holds a 6.7 rebounding margin over opponents, which also leads the conference.
 
LAST GAME RECAP
DALLAS, Texas (December 17, 2016) - Lubbock Christian University tipped off their Heartland Conference schedule coming back from a 13-point second half deficit and stealing a 65-58 victory over Dallas Baptist University at Burg Center in LCU's lowest scoring victory of the year.
 
Tyler Rogers proved to be the X-factor for the Chaps with 11 of his game-high and season-high 15 points coming within the last five minutes of the contest. Marcus Arrington was right behind Rogers with a season-high 14 points, team-high eight rebounds and four assists. Ridrell Holman added in 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting with six points coming from behind the arc. The Chaps proved once again that they are a strong second-half team, as they were held to 21 first half points before erupting for 44 second-half points. Lubbock Christian shot 13-of-17 (76.9%) from the free throw line.
 
Lubbock Christian had a slow start to the afternoon, allowing the Patriots to jump out to an early 18-8 lead six minutes into the game. A layup by Tyler Rogers and a three-pointer by Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath cut DBU's lead to five at the 10:40 mark of the first period. Brennen Fowler knocked down his first bucket of the game to cut the Chap's deficit to three points at 21-18 with 7:05 left in the half. The Patriots responded scoring eight of the final 11 points in the half to take a 29-21 lead at halftime.
 
The Chaps 21 first-half points were a feat that had not occurred since a 61-49 loss last season at Texas A&M International (12/17/15) in Laredo, Texas (ironically last season's Heartland Conference opener). Dallas Baptist shot 12-25 (48%) before the break with eight points coming from Patrick Burke. JT Harris grabbed five first half boards to give the Patriots a 20-9 rebounding advantage over the Chaparrals. As a team, Lubbock Christian shot 27.6% (8/29) from the field and 2-of-8 from behind the three-point line in the first half.
 
DBU picked up where they left off in the first half as Patrick Burke scored five unanswered points before a mid-range jumper from Arrington disrupted the Patriots rhythm. Burke's final bucket of the afternoon gave Dallas Baptist a 13-point lead at 36-23 (their largest lead of the game). A Fowler jumper sparked a 10-0 LCU run and cut DBU's lead to 36-33 with 16 minutes left to play. The Patriots were able to keep their distance from the Chaps until Ridrell Holman drained a jumper from downtown to give Lubbock Christian their first lead of the game, at 47-46, with 6:13 left to play. DBU stole the lead right back, however, with a bucket from Boy Van Vliet. The lead would change two more times until Tyler Rogers began his late game tirade, on a pair of free throws, to put Lubbock Christian up for the final time at 53-51. A layup by Arrington put the Chaparrals up 61-55 with 2:07 left in the contest. Although DBU remained persistent, it was Holman that put the nail in the coffin by splitting a pair of free throws to give LCU the 65-58 victory.
 
Lubbock Christian appeared to be a new team as they came out of the locker room after halftime. Rogers and Arrington each netted 13 points to push the Chaps to 15-of-24 (62.5%) shooting in the second half. The Chaps also had more success getting to the free throw line with 10-of-13 (76.9%) shooting from the charity stripe. Arrington picked up six of his nine rebounds after the break and helped LCU to an 18-10 rebounding edge. The Chaparrals also improved from behind the arc by going 4-of-6 from downtown in the second half. Marcos Schuster had two of LCU's second half three-pointers.
 
Dallas Baptist finished the second period shooting 3-of-14 (21.4%) behind the arc and 9-of-29 (31%) from the field. Patrick Burke led the Patriots and picked up three rebounds and seven of his 15 points after halftime.
 
Coming into the contest, Dallas Baptist forced their opponents into 19.4 turnovers per game. Lubbock Christian took care of the ball and limited themselves to just 11 turnovers, while forcing DBU into 17 turnovers. As a team, LCU snagged a season-high 11 steals. Of those 11 steals, Schuster and Jay Workman picked up three steals each. Dallas Baptist (4-5, 0-1) was still able to outrebound the Chaparrals 30-27 which marks just the second time this season that Lubbock Christian has been beaten on the boards (the first of was against Northwood University on Nov. 25). In both instances, the Chaps were still able to pull off the victory. The win over the Patriots marks the first time in head coach Todd Duncan's tenure at LCU that the Chaps were able to defeat the Patriots in Dallas (LCU's first win at DBU since joining Heartland Conference). LCU also moved to 2-2 all-time in Heartland Conference openers and are 1-1 against DBU in conference openers.
 
LONG BREAK FOR THE CHAPS
For the second time this season, Lubbock Christian gets back into action after having a two-week break between games. The first break came after a loss to Washburn University in Puerto Rico (11/26/16). The Chaparrals came back after Thanksgiving to lose a heartbreaker at Cameron University on a half-court buzzer-beating heave. Since the loss to Cameron, LCU has won two straight on the road, with wins coming over Eastern New Mexico (12/13/16) and Dallas Baptist (12/17/16). Although a two-week period between games may not be ideal, it also may not be a bad thing, as Lubbock Christian will play a total of four games within the next seven days.
 
ROAD TRIP WIND DOWN
The Chaparrals match against the Rattlers will be their sixth game in a seven-match road trip that began in Puerto Rico against Northwood University (11/25/16). So far, LCU holds a 3-2 road record as they head to South Texas for a pair of Heartland bouts against St. Mary's and Texas A&M International. Lubbock Christian University finished the 2015-16 season with a 4-6 Heartland Conference away record.
 
LEADERBOARD
Isaac Cardona has made his way into the LCU leader category with an impressive 3.30 assist-to-turnover ratio. Cardona leads the Heartland in the category, while also ranking 17^th in the nation for the statistic. The senior from Port Lavaca, Texas has played in all 11 games for the Chaps while starting in 10 of them. Isaac also ranks second among the Chaps with 33 assists.
 
Brennen Fowler has pretty much owned the leader board for the Chaps with 2.36 blocks per game (19^th nationally), 7.45 defensive rebounds per game (17^th nationally), six double-doubles (first in the conference and 12^th nationally) and 26 total blocks (19^th nationally). Fowler also ranks first in the Heartland with 9.8 rebounds per game. The sophomore is leading the LCU offense by averaging 14 points per game.
 
Senior Ridrell Holman leads LCU from behind the arc with a 39.6 three-point percentage. Holman has knocked down 21-of-53 three-pointers while leading the Chaparrals in minutes played (312). The senior is averaging 28.4 minutes and 9.7 points per game.
 
Senior Marcus Arrington has provided the pace for the LCU offense and dished out 34 assists in his eleven games. Arrington is averaging 3.1 assists per game and is coming off of a season-high performance against Dallas Baptist where he posted 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE RATTLERS
- St. Mary's Will Ferguson leads the Heartland with 4.7 assists per game. Ferguson has a stellar 52 assists so far on the year while averaging 12.2 points per game.
- The Rattlers pose a threat on the offensive glass by averaging 12.82 offensive rebounds per game. Sophomore Yanni Wetzell leads StMU with 76 total rebounds and 32 offensive rebounds.
- St. Mary's boasts an impressive resume with seven Heartland Conference Championships since 2001. Their most recent Heartland Championship came in 2015 after a 63-60 win over St. Edward's University. StMU then went on to lose in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regionals against Tarleton State University. The Rattlers were also crowned the 1989 NAIA National Champions.
- StMU is currently riding a seven-game losing streak, which has dropped them to last in Heartland Conference standings. Although the Rattlers have only picked up two wins on the year, their victories have come over Lone Star Conference opponents. Their most recent win came over then-No. 20 Midwestern State University (11/19/16) in MSU's D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
- Head coach Jim Zeleznak's enters his 11^th year with St. Mary's University and has garnered great success in his tenure. Last year, however, marked the Rattlers first season below .500 since the 2005-06 season when Zeleznak took over.
 
PRIOR MEETING WITH ST. MARY'S
LUBBOCK, Texas (February 25, 2016) – Brennen Fowler collected his fifth straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Tyler Rogers scored a game-high 15 points for Lubbock Christian University in an 87-38 rout of St. Mary's Thursday night inside the Rip Griffin Center to give the Chaparrals their largest margin of defeat on the season.
 
LCU (19-8, 13-6 Heartland) held St. Mary's (9-18, 5-14 Heartland) to 28-percent shooting from the field and no Rattler scored more than eight points. Meanwhile, the Chaps doled out 27 assists on their 31 field goals, led by a career-high eight by Marcos Schuster, and outrebounded StMU by 14. Six Chaps scored in double figures, rounded out by 14 from Ridrell Holman, 13 by A.J. Luckey and 11 each from Isaac Cardona and Michael Grant.
 
Tonight's season win number 19 is the highest number of victories dating back to 2004-05 when the Chaps went 21-10 on the year and eclipses head coach Todd Duncan's 17 total wins in 2013-14, the first year LCU competed in the Heartland Conference. The next highest total was 18 victories during 2010-11.
 
Fowler set the tone early for the Chaps on a pair of dunks within the opening minutes of the game, and a three-pointer on the left baseline by Rogers gave LCU its first double-digit lead of the evening at 15-4 with seven minutes played. Nine consecutive Chap points increased the margin to 27-6 and ballooned to 31-8 on two Holman free throws with 7:23 to play before the break. A three-point play by StMU's Skyler Brooks lessened the damage to 32-15, but LCU closed the first half by outscoring the Rattlers 14-6 for a 46-20 advantage.
 
Both squads went scoreless for nearly three minutes to open the second half before St. Mary's Stefan Wright and Luckey each hit a bucket. Two jumpers by Luckey and a layup by Cardona extended the gap to 54-23 with 15:24 to play, and a layup by Rogers pushed it to 62-26 four minutes later. LCU continued to steadily grow the lead and outscored the Rattlers 15-4 within the final minutes for the lopsided victory.
 
The loss by St. Mary's marks the worst in program history since a 120-60 drubbing by Houston in 1978 and matches the lowest point total as a member of the NCAA. Records indicate the last time StMU scored fewer than 38 points was in a 1976 loss, to Southwestern, 49-30.