AUSTIN, Texas (March 16, 2019) – Lubbock Christian University's 2018-19 men's basketball season came to an end on Saturday night, as the No. 2-seed St. Edward's outshot them 93-80 in the South Central Regional semifinal.
 
The Chaps end the season with a 21-10 overall record, matching their best ever performance since moving to the Division II level, and reaching the regional semifinal for only the second time in program history. With the win, St. Edward's advances to the regional final for the first time ever, where they will face West Texas A&M on Tuesday night in Canyon.
 
LCU was led one final time by its two senior players, Isaac Asrat and Brennen Fowler. Even with some second-half foul trouble, Isaac Asrat played 38 of the 40 minutes in the game, scoring 22 points. He ends his two-year Chap career with 978 points. Fowler did play the full 40 minutes, leading the team in scoring with 26 points and falling just one rebound shy of his 17^th double-double of the season. Fowler ends his career with 1,638 points and an LCU program record 972 rebounds. This season alone, he pulled down 323 rebounds, which are the fifth most an LCU player has ever recorded in a single season.
 
Fowler got the first LCU bucket of the game and Asrat got the second, but it was St. Edward's who had the hot hand to start, quickly jumping out to a 10-point lead on a three-pointer by Dorian Lopez. Shots from behind the arc were key for the Hilltoppers, especially early, as they connect on their first nine attempts and exactly half of their attempts in the game overall.
 
SEU continued to hit shots as the first half wore on, and even though LCU hit 55.6 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes, the Hilltoppers were able to push the tempo and get the lead all the way out to 21 points with 5:36 left in the first half. A Fowler layup and a three-pointer from Cameron Copley cut the deficit back to 15, but SEU got the last bucket of the half and went into the locker room still leading by 19.
 
In the second half, St. Edward's got the first two baskets, pushing the lead to its widest at 24 points on a layup from August Haas. Back-to-back three pointers in the corner from Silas Crisler cut it back to the teens with 14:44 left to play. The Chaps continued to chip away at the Hilltopper lead, but could not put together much or a run down the stretch. A jumper from Brennen Fowler cut the deficit to just 11 with 4:15 left in the game, but Lopez once again hit from behind the arc to keep LCU at bay.
 
Rashaan Proctor, who had 15 points in the game, got a layup in the paint with 49 seconds left to close the gap to just nine points, but Lubbock Christian had the clock working against them and SEU hit their free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
 
TURNING POINT
St. Edward's hit the first nine shots they took from behind the arc and shot 69.2 percent overall in the first 20 minutes of play, building up a lead that Lubbock Christian was unable to overcome in the second half.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
LCU's .561 field goal percentage in the game was their highest in a single game. The Chaps were previously 13-1 when shooting better than 50 percent from the field, with the only other loss coming on 2/14 when they shot 50.8 percent and lost by three to Dallas Baptist.