LUBBOCK, TEXAS (November 14, 2019) – Four Chaps scored in double figures, led by Kobe Thompson and Lloyd Daniels with 19 points each, as Lubbock Christian took down Randall 89-61 on Thursday for its first win of the 2019-20 season.
 
LCU struggled shooting the ball to open the contest while the Saints were filling it up and building up a 14-5 lead seven minutes into the game. With less than 10 minutes to go in the first half, however, Daniels was finally able to spark the Chap offense, getting to the free throw line and following it up with a layup to cut the deficit to six. Then with LCU down one and six minutes to go in the opening half, Parker Hicks hit a three-pointer to give Lubbock Christian the lead.
 
Freshman Aamer Muhammad followed with a buck from behind the arc of his own, and the Chaps were off and running. They pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time on a three-pointer from Ty Caswell just after the two-minute mark, and by the time the teams headed into their respective locker rooms, Lubbock Christian had built a 14-point lead.
 
Silas Crisler opened the second half with a made jumper and Daniels followed with a fastbreak layup to get the lead all the way out to 18 points just a minute in, but the Saints would not go away quietly. A 9-0 run from Randall cut the lead back to single digits at 16:04 mark, but Caswell hit a three-pointer to get the Chaps going again.
 
Even though they shot well enough in the first half with a .481 field-goal percentage, LCU improved even more in the second half, hitting exactly half of their shots from the floor, including 6-11 on three-point attempts.
 
Randall kept within 15 points of Lubbock Christian for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but with 9:40 left to play Thompson scored four straight points followed by a three-pointer from Caswell and a jumper from Cameron Copley to suddenly put LCU up by 21. The Chaps cruised the rest of the way and closed the game strong, as Cade McDowell scored his first collegiate points and Zach Stepp hit a three-pointer in the game's last two minutes for a 28-point win.
 
TURNING POINT
Lubbock Christian was down by nine points with 9:12 remaining in the first half before they took over on offense, scoring 17 straight points and going up by nine themselves before the Saints scored another bucket.  
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Swingman Kobe Thompson was tied for the team lead with a career-high 19 points in the game but did it in an unorthodox way. The Leander native took 17 free throw attempts against the Saints, getting 13 of his points from the charity stripe. It is the most free throws made and attempted since A.J. Luckey went an incredible 23-30 from the line against UT Permian Basin on February 21, 2015.
 
NEXT UP
It seems too early, but Lubbock Christian's next came is one that will count in the conference standings, as they will begin the Lone Star Conference era at 4 p.m. on November 23 against Angelo State in San Angelo, Texas.