ST. EDWARD'S UNIVERSITY (13-5, 3-3) at LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (6-10, 2-3)
Thursday, January 18 - 8:00 PM
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
All-Time Series: LCU leads 14-7
TV: Fox 34 News Now
Radio: 100.7FM The Score



 
BACK AT IT AGAIN
Lubbock Christian University remains in Heartland Conference action Thursday, as they host the Hilltoppers of St. Edward's University. The Chaps return to Rip Griffin Center after a road loss to Rogers State in Claremore, Okla. last Wednesday. LCU head coach Todd Duncan and his squad stands 1-1 on the season when playing on Thursday night. They look to even their conference record (2-3) and make a move out of seventh place in the conference. Eight teams in the conference are separated by two wins or less.

WEDNESDAY REWIND
CLAREMORE, Okla. (January 10, 2018) – Wednesday night proved troublesome for Lubbock Christian University, where the Chaps marked a season-low 55 points in a 70-55 road loss at Rogers State University. Kentton Williams stood at the forefront of the Chaparral offense scoring 14 points on four field goals and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Brennen Fowler registered his second consecutive double-double performance, sixth of the season, with 14 boards and 12 points.
 
Lubbock Christian found an early rhythm and jumped to out to a quick 8-0 lead at the beginning the night. Rogers State responded by heating up from distance and nailing their first four field goals from behind the arc, narrowing the Chaparral lead to 13-12. Marcos Schuster immediately answered with his first points of the evening on a triple of his own that sparked eight unanswered points from LCU. The Chaps closed out the half shooting 4-of-10 from the field allowing the Hillcats to take a narrow 32-30 lead at the break.
 
After opening up the evening scoring on their first four field goal attempts, LCU closed out the first period with a 48% (12-of-25) average from the floor. Williams' eight points led all Chap scorers in the opening 20 minutes on 3-of-6 shooting and a pair of free throws. Although Lubbock Christian's defensive play held Rogers State to a 44.4% (12-of-27) shooting performance, the Hillcats were able to knock down five three-pointers while outrebounding the Chaps 17-12 at the half.
 
The second half is where things went off the rails for LCU as they missed their opening four field goal attempts allowing Rogers State to extend their lead to 38-32. Though Lubbock Christian had more luck getting to the free throw line in the final period, they were unable to pull any closer than four-points of the Hillcats throughout the remainder of the night. RSU closed out the contest with their final nine points coming from the charity stripe. Rogers State finished the night with a 13-2 scoring run capping a 70-55 victory over the Chaparrals.
 
LCU simply went cold in the second half, logging a 28.6% (8-of-28) shooting mark. The Chaps finished the game shooting 20-of-53 (37.7%) from the field despite converting 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the free throw line. A majority of Lubbock Christian's points came from the key as Lubbock Christian outscored the Hillcats 30-6 from inside the paint. Schuster (10 points) joined Fowler and Williams as LCU's only players in double-scoring figures.

BLOCKING IT OUT
LCU's defense has posted a conference leading 61 blocks this season, almost doubling that of their opponents who have accrued 36 blocks against the Chaps. Lubbock Christian ranks first in the Heartland for blocks per game with a 3.8 average. Junior Brennen Fowler has led the way for the Chaparrals in the category accounting for 34 of LCU's swats. Fowler's three blocks against Rogers State moved him to third all-time in program history with 109 since beginning his Lubbock Christian career in the 2015-16 season.
 
OFFENSIVE DUEL
Thursday's game marks the first meeting of the Heartland Conference's leading scorers. St. Edward's Landon Goesling comes into the matchup leading the Heartland with 21.6 points per game. Isaac Asrat will look to cancel Goesling out, as the Plano, Texas product enters the contest averaging 18.6 points per contest. Asrat has been a huge factor on the offensive end for Lubbock Christian this season, registering double-figure scoring performances in 14 of LCU's 16 games and 20+ points in seven of those contests.
 
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Despite their 6-10 overall record this season, Lubbock Christian has managed to outshoot their opponents from the field. The Chaps have held their opposition to a 42% field goal average, while shooting 46.9% from the field as a team. LCU has outshot opponents in nine of their 16 games this season, three of which still resulted in losses for the Chaparrals.
 
FOUL PLAY
Lubbock Christian stands eighth in the South Central region, but second in the Heartland for fewest fouls committed this season. Their 301 fouls have led to 16.3 made free throws per game from their opponents. Conversely, the Chaps have made their way to the charity stripe for a 70.2% team free throw average. LCU is averaging 20.8 free throw attempts per contest.
 
SEU FACTS
- Dorian Lopez has produced his share of strong performances for the Hilltoppers to lead the Heartland Conference with eight double-double performances this season. Most recently, Lopez recorded 23 points and 10 rebounds in a loss to Rogers State (Jan, 13).
- St. Edward's offense has made a point of taking care of the ball throughout their opening 18 games. The Hilltoppers have accumulated a 1.41 assist-turnover ratio, ranking them 25^th nationally in the category. Further, SEU has averaged 17.1 assist per contest.
- The Hilltoppers have also found their groove from the field posting a 47.7% field goal average.
- Their 476 free throw attempts stand third in the nation while their 357 made free throws ranks second nationally.
- Junior Landon Goesling, who leads the nation free throws made (167), is coming off of his second Heartland Conference Player of the Week award this season after averaging 30 points per game last week.

RIVALRY AGAINST SEU
Lubbock Christian holds the edge over St. Edward's with a 14-7 series advantage and has won 13 of the last 14 meetings. The squads first met in the 80's where the Chaps pulled off a 75-64 victory over the Hilltoppers (Nov. 22, 1985). The Chaparrals have won the past five consecutive meetings against SEU, and at home, LCU has not lost to SEU since Dec. 3, 1994. Most recently, LCU handed the Hilltoppers a 91-80 defeat inside Rip Griffin Center to make the Chap's senior day a performance to remember (Feb, 25, 2017).

PRIOR MEETING WITH SEU
LUBBOCK, Texas (February 25, 2017) – Lubbock Christian University, setting a program and Heartland Conference record from the free-throw line, tied a bow on their regular season finale with a 91-80 win over St. Edward's University Saturday afternoon inside Rip Griffin Center. Marcos Schuster led LCU with a game-high 19 points on 58.3% shooting (7-of-12) and five three-pointers. The victory also served as Senior Day for Lubbock Christian where the Chaps honored five seniors.
 
St. Edward's struck first and jumped out to a 7-3 lead early in the contest. LCU marched back on the shoulders of Isaac Cardona and Marcus Arrington who combined for the Chap's first 15 points of the afternoon to put Lubbock Christian up 15-7 with at the 12:56 mark. SEU's Ramir Burton drained a couple of free throws to close LCU's lead to 13 points. However, Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 9-3 run for the Chaparrals. Sean Watkins nailed a triple with 39-seconds left in the period narrowing the Chap lead. But Schuster stepped up and drilled a last-second triple of his own to give LCU a 47-31 lead heading into the locker room.
 
The Chaps were on fire in the first half shooting 60% (18-of-30) from the field and 7-for-10 from downtown. Marcus Arrington was perfect from beyond the arc netting four treys for 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in the half. Schuster shot 66.7% (4-of-6) for 10 points in 13 minutes played. Tyler Rogers, Ridrell Holman and Brennen Fowler each grabbed five rebounds to push the Chaparrals to a 22-15 advantage over the Hilltoppers on the boards. LCU went on a 21-0 run in the period, which was part of an overall 26-4 scoring surge for LCU, as SEU went 7:49 without a field goal.
 
The Hilltoppers were held to 26.5% (9-of-34) from the field in the opening period. Fifteen of their 34 points, in the half, were scored from behind the arc. Sean Watkins led SEU with nine points on 2-of-4 shooting and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
 
LCU opened up the second half on an 11-4 run capped by a three-pointer from Marcos Schuster. He kept his hand warm and nailed another triple at the 15:44 mark, giving the Chaps a 24-point lead at 63-39, for their largest lead of the game. St. Edward's cut the LCU lead down to 65-49, but another three-point dagger from Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath extended Lubbock Christian's lead back to 20-points at 77-57 with just over seven-minutes remaining. The Hilltoppers connected on four straight three-point jumpers and eventually scored 13 unanswered points to cut the LCU lead to 79-70. The Chaps scored their final 12 points of the contest from the free throw line to grab the 91-80 victory over St. Edward's.
 
Brennen Fowler was LCU's second half hero scoring 10 points. The Chaparrals continued their attack from long-range and netted 6-of-9 from behind the three-point line for a 66.7% mark in the second half. Only three of Lubbock Christian's second-half field goals were converted from inside the arc.
 
The Chaps set a program-high 100% mark from the free throw line scoring on all 24 of their attempts from the stripe. The 24-for-24 from the line set a Heartland Conference single-game record and it's the second-best mark in NCAA Division II play this season behind Florida Tech, who was 28-of-28 from the line in a contest this season. LCU's bench came up huge with 52 of the Chaps 91 points for the game. Lubbock Christian finished the afternoon shooting 54% (27-of-50) from the field and 68.4% (13-for-19) from downtown. There were five Chaps in double-scoring figures. Schuster led the way with 19 points. Arrington and Fowler each posted 16 points, Gilbreath accounted for 15 points and Rogers put up 13 points of his own.