AUSTIN, Texas (March 15, 2019) – Lubbock Christian University moved to 2-0 all time in the first round of the NCAA Postseason Tournament on Friday night as they took down the No. 3-seed Colorado School of Mines 82-73.
 
All five of the LCU starters scored in the double figures, led by Isaac Asrat, who scored 21, breaking the 20-point mark for the first time since Feb. 14. Fowler was second on the team with 17 points and was dominant on the glass with 14 rebounds, while Kobe Thompson matched his career-high with 15 points. Rashaan Proctor and Cameron Copley rounded out the starting group with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Chaps starters were hot from the opening tip, as they scored the games' first nine points and jumped out to an early 16-2 lead on a three-pointer from Kobe Thompson. The three-point shot was important for LCU in the first half, as they hit six of 10 attempts in the opening 20 minutes and shot 50 percent from behind the arc overall in the game.
 
Mines was able to cut the deficit back to single digits with 12:54 left in the opening half, but Copley stopped the run with one of two three-pointers he hit in the game. Ben Sonnefeld kept the Orediggers in the game with six first-half three pointers on eight attempts, but a three-pointer from Asrat with 6:07 left in the half sparked an 8-0 Chap run that got them up by 18. Sonnefeld hit two three-pointers in the final two minutes of the half, but Copley made a layup before the buzzer and LCU went into the locker room with a 15-point lead.
 
Along with the strong three-point shooting, LCU hit 53.1 percent of their shots from the field overall in the first half. The Chaps also played strong defense, limiting the Orediggers to a .379 percentage. Besides Sonnefeld, only two other Mines three-pointers went in, and LCU did not allow CSM to the free throw line at all in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
A hot start came again in the second half, as Lubbock Christian went on a 10-1 run that Proctor capped off with a dunk to push the gap to its widest margin of 24 points. Mines' deficit was 20 or more points for almost 10 minutes before they cut it to 19 with 9:55 to go and began their comeback push.
 
With Sonnefeld still doing the majority of the scoring, the Orediggers went on a 18-3 run and all of the sudden were down by just single digits with 5:50 left in the game. Copley got to the free throw line and hit his free throws to push the lead back to double-digits, but Mines continued to make shots and keep the game close the rest of the way.
 
The gap got to its slimmest point of the second half with 4:14 left to play when Sonnefeld hit his seventh and final three-pointer. He would score six more points before the game ended, giving him 37 overall. LCU, now in the bonus, only scored via free throws the remainder of the game, but went 10-12 from the line in the final four minutes to preserve the victory and advance to round two.
 
TURNING POINT
The beginning of both halves were important for the Chaps, as they scored 16 of the first 18 points in the first half and 10 of the first 11 points in the second half, building a wide margin that Mines was unable to close late in the game.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Colorado School of Mines came into Friday night's matchup shooting an incredible .500 from the field for the season, but it was not so against Lubbock Christian's defense. The Chaps held the Orediggers to a .355 percentage, which was their second-worst single game mark of the season and only the fifth time they shot worse than 40 percent. For LCU, it was the 14^th time they held an opponent to a shooting percentage lower than 40 percent and they moved to 12-2 in those contests.
 
NEXT UP
The Chaps will advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history and face a familiar foe in St. Edward's. LCU and SEU will tip off at 7 p.m. with a chance to play in the Sweet 16 on the line.