LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (2-3) vs. TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY – COMMERCE (3-0)
Friday, November 24 - 5:30 PM
Junell Center (San Angelo, Texas)
All-Time Series: TAMUC leads series 2-0
THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Lubbock Christian University has made their way to San Angelo, Texas for the Angelo State Thanksgiving Classic. The Chaps will play a pair of games in the Classic beginning with Texas A&M University – Commerce on Friday evening. Tipoff against the Lions is set for 5:30 p.m. inside Angelo State's Junell Center.
LAST GAME RECAP
LUBBOCK, Texas (November 21, 2017) – Lubbock Christian University men's basketball cruised to a 79-65 win inside Rip Griffin Center Tuesday night over Sul Ross State University closing out their second consecutive night of play. Once again,
Isaac Asrat led the Chaps scoring 23 points marking his third straight game with 20 or more points. In total, four Chaparral players tallied double-scoring figures.
Kentton Williams and
Brennen Fowler were each two rebounds shy of posting double-doubles. The win gives Lubbock Christian a 2-0 record at home this season.
The Lobos night started off on the wrong foot as head coach Clif Carroll's team was charged with a technical foul in the pregame for failing to provide his starting lineup at the appropriate time. With the foul enforced,
Isaac Asrat stepped up and knocked down a free throw putting the Chaps up 1-0 before the opening tipoff. LCU then drained their next two buckets taking a 5-0 lead within the first 50 seconds of regulation. Sul Ross came right back and ultimately took an 11-10 lead after Caleb Thomasson split a pair of free throws at the 16:20 mark. SRSU's lead was short-lived as
Marcos Schuster hit back-to-back jumpers to regain the lead for the Chaps 40 seconds later. Williams capped off a 10-2 run for the Chaparrals with a layup at the 13:12 mark. Stephen Walker cut the LCU lead to five with a layup for Sul Ross, but that would be as close as the Lobos would get for the remainder of the half. A three-pointer by Asrat gave the Chaps their largest lead of the half, 32-15, before closing out the period with a 13-point advantage at 42-29.
Lubbock Christian outscored the Lobos from inside the paint in the opening period by an 18-6 margin. Asrat led LCU with 18 points in the half 6-of-10 shooting and 3-for-5 from three-point range. As a team, the Chaps notched a 58.6% (17-of-29) field goal average in the period.
Brennen Fowler picked up 5 rebounds to help Lubbock Christian edge out the Lobos 18-14 on the glass.
Sul Ross State scored their first five points of the second period from the free throw line.
Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath was there for LCU to break up the Lobo's free throw efforts with a pair of three-pointers that extended the lead for the Chaparrals. With 14:56 left to play, Gilbreath knocked down one more triple to give the Chaps a 23-point lead at 59-36. SRSU would get as close as a 13-points following a three-pointer by Tristen Licon. The Chaparrals kept the Lobos at bay and closed out the game with a 79-65 victory that contained no lead changes within the second period.
Gilbreath was a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown in the second half and led the Chaparrals with nine points and five rebounds in the period. LCU did a majority of their work from the free throw line in the final 20 minutes knocking down 17-of-22 attempts from the charity stripe for a 77.3% average. Four of Lubbock Christian's eight second half field goals came from behind the arc.
There were three technical fouls given throughout the game, two of which were awarded to Sul Ross State. Lubbock Christian University finished the day shooting 22-for-28 from the charity stripe and 46.3% (25-of-54) from the field. Asrat's 23 points proved to be a game high performance and led four Chaparral double-figure scorers. Schuster (16 points), Williams (14 points) and
Brennen Fowler (12 points) helped lead LCU's efforts on the offensive end. Williams added eight rebounds while dishing out four assists.
CHAP LEADERS
The Chaparrals were off to a slow start this season, opening up with an 0-3 record, but they have won back-to-back games since. Due in large part to LCU's success is the hot-handed shooting from junior
Isaac Asrat, who leads the Chap roster averaging 21.6 points per game on a 58.5% average from three-point range. The junior is shooting 45.7% from the field in his first five games.
This season, LCU has outrebounded opponents in three of those contests.
Brennen Fowler has led the Chaparral's efforts on the glass averaging 7.8 rebounds per contest for a total of 39 rebounds on the season. As a team, Lubbock Christian has posted 33.8 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 32.6.
Marcos Schuster leads LCU's distribution category after dishing out 16 assists throughout his first five games. Schuster, the lone senior on the squad, is averaging 3.2 assists in 30 minutes played per game.
CLASSIC CHAPS
This weekend's tournament appearance will mark the sixth classic event Lubbock Christian has compete in within the past four seasons. The Chaps hold a 2-8 record when playing those contests. Of those 10 games, eight have been against South Central regional-conference opponents. This weekend will be no different, as Texas A&M Commerce and Angelo State both compete within the Lone Star Conference. With their 2-8 record, five of their eight losses have come against opponents ranked within the top-25.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Chaps have made a habit of playing on the road this season opening up with their first three game away from home. So far, LCU has averaged 77.3 points per game on the offensive end while allowing 85.3 points per game when playing on the road. Lubbock Christian has also averaged 14.3 turnovers per contest in those three games. Asrat has led the Chaps with 18 points per road contest, while Fowler has averaged eight rebounds throughout their three losses.
TAMU - COMMERCE FACTS
- The Lions head into the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record to kick off their 2017-2018 campaign. Two of their three wins have come against Heartland Conference members, while their most recent victory was an 82-66 result over Oklahoma City University, a NAIA member institution.
- As a team, TAMU-Commerce has scored 75.3 points per game, while allowing 65.3 points from their defense.
- Maintaining control of the ball has been a point of contention for the Lions this year, as they are giving up 15 turnovers per game. Conversely, they have forced their opponents into 19.7 turnovers per contest and scored an average 20.7 points per game off of turnovers.
- Commerce has four of their players averaging double-scoring figures on the year. Willie Rooks leads the Lion squad with 16.7 points per game on 36.8% shooting from the field.
- The Lions are extremely experienced with nine of their 13 rosters spots occupied by upperclassmen. Of those nine upperclassmen, five are labeled as seniors.
RIVALRY AGAINST THE LIONS
Texas A&M Commerce owns a 2-0 all-time record against LCU. The first meeting was held back on Dec. 27, 1979, as TAMUC was known as East Texas State and ETS defeated LCU 72-69. The two teams would not meet again until an 83-76 loss to open up the 2014-2015 season. In that lone meeting, Lubbock Christian shot 42.9% from the field and 9-of-27 (33.3%) from behind the arc. Five Chaps recorded double-scoring figures as A.J. Luckey led LCU with a game-high 24 points.
PRIOR MEETING WITH TEXAS A&M COMMERCE
STEPHENVILLE, Texas (November 14, 2014) – Aided by 17-second half points from A.J. Luckey, Lubbock Christian outscored Texas A&M-Commerce after halftime by six but could not quite make up for a 13-point first half deficit in an 83-76 season opening loss to the Lions in the Texan Tip-Off Classic at Wisdom Gym on Friday afternoon.
Luckey came alive after being held without a field goal for the first 30 minutes of the contest, scoring all seven of his buckets following intermission and connected of eight of his 10 free throws to score a game-high 24 points. Beau Durham drained three of his six three-point attempts on his way to 13 points, while Matthew Alford, Ridrell Holman and Isaac Cardona each contributed 10 in the 2014-15 debut for the Chaps.
LCU (0-1, 0-0 Heartland) more than doubled their first half output, scoring 51 points in the second stanza compared to just 25 throughout the first 20 minutes. The Chaps mustered just six field goals before halftime but returned after the break to hit 21 of their 36 attempts at a 58-percent clip
TAMUC (1-0, 0-0 Lone Star), who defeated Texas A&M in an exhibition contest on November 5 and narrowly lost to Texas Tech three days later, received three first-place votes in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll. Although the Lions never trailed in this contest and led by as many as 18 in each half, the Chaps kept finding a way to sneak back into the game. To open the second half, the Chaps put together a 10-3 run to pull within six on back-to-back baskets by Durham and Holman. TAMUC's Darrell Williams, a huge presence underneath, then scored two buckets and teammate Anthony Adams hit a jumper while being fouled by Luckey to push Commerce's lead back to a dozen at 47-35.
A layup by Scout Teal, his first bucket in a Chap uniform, closed the gap to 49-41 with under 14 minutes to play, but a three-pointer by De'Andre Carson pushed the Lion lead back to 52-41. A three-pointer and a pair of free throws by Christian Macauley extended Commerce's lead to 17 with 7:17 remaining.
Down 77-60 with 2:51 on the clock, Luckey scored a jumper and a layup before
Marcos Schuster put his name in the scoring column with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 79-67. Luckey then took a pass from Schuster and drained a trey from the baseline while being fouled. The ensuing free throw was no good, but Alford scored in the paint on the next trip down to pull the Chaps to within 80-72 with 33 seconds to play. Cardona drove left moments later for a bucket and Luckey hit another layup with time expiring for the final points of the afternoon.
