LUBBOCK, Texas (January 22, 2021) – The Lubbock Christian University men's basketball team earned it biggest win over a conference opponent in five years with an 86-38 thrashing of Texas A&M International on Friday at the Rip Griffin Center.
 
The Chaps moved to 7-0 overall (and in Lone Star Conference play) with the win, extending their best start to a season since 2000-01, when they started 9-0.
 
Offensively, LCU actually struggled to start, hitting only one of their first six shot attempts and leading only 4-2 at the first media timeout. Out of that timeout, however, the floodgates opened as the Chaps scored 19 unanswered points to build the lead out to 20 points at the 9:45 mark.
 
Aamer Muhammad was a key component of the run, hitting back-to-back three-pointers, and the sophomore guard went on to have a career night. Muhammad ended the game with a career-high 19 points, having hit 7-of-8 from the field. He led the team in scoring, but had three teammates join him in double-figures. Lloyd Daniels and Gonzalo Corbalan added 12 each, and Rowan Mackenzie scored 10.
 
Muhammad's career-high was not the only one on the night though, as the Chaps used all 14 players on the roster. Australia native Ben Janssan scored seven points for a new career-high, and redshirt freshman Karhan Jones saw his first collegiate playing time and scored five points.
 
Zach Barsalou and Camden Grant also got on the floor for their first collegiate minutes, and Cade McDowell played for the first time this season, scoring two points.
 
TAMIU finally broke the 20-point LCU run with a three-pointer at the 9:17 mark and was able to find some rhythm offensively and pull within 15, but the Chaps closed the half on a 14-5 run and led by 24 at the break.
 
Lubbock Christian did not let up in the final 20 minutes of play and Texas A&M-International, who started the game with only seven players total, compounded the issue by having two players foul out during the period.
 
The lead was pushed out to 31 points early in the half, but a 12-2 run on four straight made three-pointers by the Dustdevils did slow the Chaps down momentarily. Jalen Brattain got it back out to the 30-point mark with 10:54 left to play.
 
It was McDowell's jumper with just under six minutes to play that increased LCU's lead to 40 points, and it ballooned to 50 late in the game thanks to a three-pointer from Jones and back-to-back treys from Zach Stepp. TAMIU hit one final bucket before the horn sounded.
 
TURNING POINT
Daniels hit a jumper in the pain with 14:34 to play in the first half that put the Chaps up by four, right after the first media timeout of the game.  It would be more than five minutes before the Dustdevils scored again, while LCU built a comfortable lead that they were able to hold onto the rest of the way.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
LCU's 48-point margin of victory was their largest since Nov. 30, 2020, when they beat Oklahoma Panhandle State by 49 (95-46). The last time they beat a conference opponent so handedly, however, was Feb. 25, 2016, when they beat St. Mary's, also by 49 (87-38).
 
NEXT UP
It will be a battle of the same two teams again on Saturday, with tipoff between the Chaps and Dustdevils set for 5:30 p.m. in the Rip Griffin Center.