LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (10-11, 6-4) at TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (8-13, 1-8)
Saturday, February 3 – 3 PM
Kinesiology & Convocation Building (Laredo, Texas)
All-Time Series: LCU leads 6-3




EYE OF THE DUSTDEVIL
Saturday's meeting with Texas A&M International will close out a four-game road trip for Lubbock Christian University. The Chaps will have the chance to snag the regular season sweep against the Dustdevils after grabbing a victory inside Rip Griffin Center earlier this year (Jan. 4).

A LOOK AT THEIR LAST GAME
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (February 1, 2018) – Lubbock Christian University completed their regular season sweep of St. Mary's Thursday night with a 55-48 Heartland Conference win inside Bill Greehey Arena. The Chaparrals overcame a 12-point deficit, with Isaac Asrat leading LCU in the scoring column with 12 points. Brennen Fowler and Jay Workman followed close behind with 10 points each to balance out the LCU offensive distribution.
 
LCU was in a hole early on in the contest, as St. Mary's rushed to a 12-2 lead in the opening seven minutes. LCU opened the game 1-of-8 from the field before Rashaan Proctor added LCU's second bucket of the game at the 12:30 mark. Daniel Hurst slipped in a layup allowing the Rattlers to take their largest lead of the night (16-4) with 9:17 remaining in the opening period. Stephen Lennox finally provided a spark to the Lubbock Christian offense after a layup just under the nine-minute mark. Lennox's lay-in kicked off a seven-minute stretch in which the Chaparrals outscored StMU with a 15-4 tear to cut the Rattlers lead to a one-point margin. Proctor connected with a mid-range jumper that found the net for LCU before the buzzer sounded. Lubbock Christian narrowed St. Mary's lead to a 24-21 margin at the break.
 
The Chaps struggled to find a rhythm in the opening period, struggling to a 38.5% shooting mark on 10-of-26 from the floor. All 21 points in the half came from the field. Lubbock Christian's 0-for-3 outing from the free-throw line in the half marked the first time this season that the Chaparrals have failed to sink a free throw in a half. Asrat led the Lubbock Christian squad with five points at the break but was held to a 2-for-4 mark from the field.
 
The second period immediately began on the opposite foot for the Chaparrals, as they recorded nine unanswered points to open up the half and took a 32-24 lead. Petar Radojicic, scoring StMU's first bucket of the half 4:50 into the half, interjected with a bucket from inside the paint for St. Mary's, but Marcos Schuster drilled a pair of free throws to widen LCU's lead to a nine-point advantage. Two minutes later, Juwan Green sunk a triple for the Rattlers followed by a layup from Radojicic, which cut the Chap lead to 46-42 with 5:50 remaining. The comeback was short lived, as Asrat knocked down his final trey of the night for Lubbock Christian to put away hope for a St. Mary's comeback. Kobe Thompson marked LCU's final field goal of the contest on a layup with two minutes remaining. Despite a final lay-in from St. Mary's Green, the Chaparrals held the Rattlers scoreless for the final minute to pick up the 55-48 victory.
 
Jay Workman was the catalyst for the Chaps in the final 20 minutes, going for eight points, six rebounds and two assists. After a 21-point performance in the opening period, LCU combined for 34 second-half points in addition to a 50% (13-for-26) field goal mark. Lubbock Christian battered the Rattlers on the boards 22-12 in the second period, while holding the StMU squad to 31% (9-of-29) shooting.
 
LCU concluded the evening with a 44.2% (23/52) performance from the field (they were 50%, 21/42, from inside the arc). It was Workman who led the efforts on the glass grabbing seven rebounds for the contest, six came in the second-half alone. After a slow start, the Chap's defense grew rigid and held the Rattlers to a 33.9% (20/59) overall shooting average and a paltry 11.1% (2-of-18) from beyond the arc.
 
Lubbock Christian moves to a 10-11 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the Heartland Conference standings. StMU fell to 7-15 overall and 3-7 in conference play. It was the sixth consecutive loss for StMU.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Though LCU completed Thursday's tilt shooting above 40%, the Chaps converted just two three-pointers on 10 attempts, marking a season-low 20% from downtown.


HEARTLAND STANDINGS
The Heartland standings have been a bit of a mess this season, with Arkansas Fort Smith and Dallas Baptist consistently battling for first-place. After starting out their conference slate 0-2 and at the bottom of the table, the Chaparrals have worked their way up the charts. Following their success this past Thursday over St. Mary's, the Chaps have positioned themselves into a tie for third place with Newman. With a 6-4 mark against Heartland foes, LCU is one win away from stepping up to the second-place position.

ROAD WARRIORS
Head coach Todd Duncan and his squad have made their way to a 3-6 record on the road this season. Over their nine away games, the Chaps are shooting 46.2% from the field. Isaac Asrat has led the Lubbock Christian squad on the road averaging 16.2 points per game. On their current road trip, LCU has managed to hold their opponents to 67.7 points per contest throughout the three-game stretch.

PAINT
The Chaps have done a majority of their work from inside the key, recording 34.1 of their 75.2 points per game from the paint. Fowler has tallied a 55.8% field goal percentage on the season to lead the Chaparral squad. In their last meeting with the TAMIU, Lubbock Christian battered the Dustdevils 32-16 in points within the paint.

TAMIU FACTS
- Texas A&M International finds themselves in the last place spot of the latest Heartland Conference standings. With a 1-8 record in Heartland matches, TAMIU's only win came last Saturday against St. Edward's in a 65-60 result.
- Although they have struggled on the offensive end of the floor, the Dustdevils have still managed to hold strong on defense. Texas A&M International has held their opposition to 66.3 points per game. In fact, their scoring defense leads the Heartland and ranks 18^th in the nation.
- Jeremy Wright leads the conference and stands 10^th nationally with 2.3 steals per contest.
- Xabier Gomez is the lone wing on the Dustdevil roster and leads the team averaging 11.8 points for the season.
- TAMIU has managed to outrebound their opponents, but by a very slim margin. They have posted a 31.1 average while limiting foes to 31 boards each game.

RIVALRY AGAINST TAMIU
LCU has forced their way to a 6-3 series advantage over Texas A&M International. The teams first met in the 2013-2014 season when the Chaps began their transition into NCAA Division II status. Lubbock Christian has won three of the past four matches in the rivalry by an average of 21 points. The Chaparrals stand 2-2 against Texas A&M International when playing on the road.

PRIOR MEETING WITH TAMIU
LUBBOCK, Texas (January 4, 2018) – Lubbock Christian University jumped back into the win column Thursday night defeating Texas A&M International 66-43 inside Rip Griffin Center for LCU's second largest winning margin of the season. The Chaparrals offensive efforts were led by Isaac Asrat who captured 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
 
Asrat pushed the tempo early scoring 12 of the Chaps first 19 points as LCU exploded to a 19-2 advantage in the opening eight minutes of play. Lubbock Christian's defense kept the pressure on Texas A&M International for the remainder of the half keeping the Dustdevils under 10 points until the 8:14 mark where TAMIU's Kamari Robinson netted a pair of free throws to close the Chaparral advantage to 30-11. Despite the Dustdevils 8-2 scoring run to close out the first half, LCU headed into the intermission with a 41-24 lead.
 
Texas A&M International were limited to nine buckets in the opening period for a 37.5% (9-of-24) team shooting average. Robinson and Brendan Ortiz led the way for the Dustdevils with nine points apiece in the half.
 
The Chaps were able to capitalize off of TAMIU errors in the first half forcing the Dustdevils into eight turnovers. LCU converted 11 fast break points. Asrat knocked down a 75% (6-for-8) field goal average to tally 14 points and push the Chaparrals to a 61.5% (16-of-26) first half shooting percentage.
 
LCU continued to pile it on the Dustdevils widening their lead to 20 points at 53-33 following a rim rocking dunk by Kentton Williams. The Chaps forced another eight turnovers out of TAMIU in the final 20 minutes while scoring 14 of their 25 second half points off of the Dustdevil's turnovers. Asrat and Jay Workman led the Chaparrals with seven points each. Though Lubbock Christian cooled down to a 34.6% (9-of-26) shooting average in the final period, their defense ramped things up even more holding Texas A&M International to 19 points in the second half.
 
Workman (12 points), Kentton Williams (11 points) and Marcos Schuster (10 points) joined Asrat in double-scoring figures for the evening. The Chaps closed the game out shooting 48.1% from the floor. They outscored the Dustdevils 32-16 inside the paint and 29-8 off of turnovers.
 
LCU improves to a 5-9 overall record and moves up to eighth place in Heartland standings with a 1-2 record against conference foes.