LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Fresh off their first win over a ranked team this season, Lubbock Christian looks to close out the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic with a victory, facing the red-hot Le Moyne College Dolphins on Sunday, Dec. 18.

Lubbock Christian (6-3) vs Le Moyne College (8-5)
Sunday, Dec. 18 - 5:30 PM (CT) / 3:30 PM (PT)
Las Vegas, Nev. - South Point Arena

FOLLOW ALONG
The entire South Point Holiday Hoops Classic will be streamed on FloHoops for a small fee. Fans can sign up for FloHoops here . The matchup will also feature a live radio stream for free, courtesy of Fox Sports 1490 AM in Syracuse, N.Y. That stream is available here. For those who want to follow along with live stats, free links to every single game at the South Point Arena are available here.

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 91-83 win over no. 4/5 West Liberty in game one of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 17
- Najeeb Muhammad scored a career-high 21 points and went 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Muhammad is just the second player in program history to record a 1.000 free throw percentage with at least 10 made free throws in a game
- Russell Harrison scored 16 points and hauled down six boards for the Chaps. It is Harrison's fourth straight game scoring in double figures
- Fletcher MacDonald scored a career-high 14 points against West Liberty. He also hauled in four rebounds.
- Le Moyne enters the game 8-5 and winners of five straight after beating Angelo State 84-77 on Dec. 17

VIVA LAS VEGAS
For the second straight season, the Lubbock Christian men's basketball team will head to Las Vegas, Nev. for the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic. The Chaps went 2-0 at the 2021 edition of the tournament, defeating Rollins College 77-60 thanks to 20 points and 10 rebounds from Parker Hicks. The Chaparrals closed out the tournament with an 84-74 win over Western Washington, as Lloyd Daniels scored 25 points and dished out five assists.
LCU knocked off no. 4/5 West Liberty 91-83 in the first game of the 2022 Holiday Hoops Classic event. Najeeb Muhammad scored 21 points and went 10-for-10 from the free throw line, as the Chap defense held the Hilltoppers to just 32.4 percent from three in the win.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 19.2 points per game, third in the LSC. The junior scored a career-high 35 points against Colorado School of Mines on Nov. 12, draining seven three-pointers, just three shy of tying the school record of most threes made in a single game. For his impressive play against the Orediggers, Mackenzie earned his first career LSC Offensive Player of the Week Honors on Nov. 14, 2022. 
Mackenzie has also been a force defensively, setting a career-high in steals in back-to-back games, picking up four steals against Colorado Mines and five steals against Southern Nazarene. 
Mackenzie scored 30 points for the second time this season against Oklahoma Christian, going 9-for-9 from the free throw line and 3-for-5 from three-point land. The junior also hauled in four rebounds and handed out four assists.
Mackenzie ranks second in the LSC in field goal percentage, shooting 55.7 percent from the field so far this season. He also leads the team in rebounds with 5.8 per game.

NOBODY BEATS AARON
Moving into the starting lineup this season, 2021-22 LSC All-Freshman Team member Aaron Gonzales has been a sharpshooter for the Chaps, shooting 42.9 percent from three. After averaging 3.5 points per game last season, Gonzales has averaged 9.6 points per game, starting in all nine contests for Lubbock Christian.
Gonzales scored a career-high 17 points against Arlington Baptist on Nov. 21, draining five shots from beyond the arc. The sophomore flirted with his first career double-double on Dec. 3 against Arkansas Fort Smith, scoring 13 points and pulling down a career-best nine rebounds to lead LCU.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE
Najeeb Muhammad has been dishing out assists like hot cakes all season long. Muhammad finished with a career-high eight assists on Dec. 10 against Texas A&M International, just two days after handing out six assists against Texas A&M-Kingsville. 
Muhammad has found his stroke of late, scoring a career-high 21 points in LCU's 91-83 win over no. 4/5 West Liberty, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. That mark ties Kenny Hewitt for the single-game free throw percentage record. Hewitt went 14-for-14 against Mid-America Nazarene on Feb. 7, 2009. Muhammad also dished out six assists and had three steals.
This season, the Arizona Western College transfer is averaging 10.6 points per game, while his 35 total assists are the fifth-most in the Lone Star Conference. 

WOKE UP FEELING DANGER RUSS
Russell Harrison tied his career-high in points from his lone season at Claredon College (2019-2020) with 33 points on Dec. 3 against Arkansas Fort Smith. Harrison was automatic from beyond the mark, making six three-pointers in the game, including four in a row in the second half. The grad transfer finished the night shooting 52.1 percent from the field. Harrison stuffed the stat sheet in that game, pulling in eight rebounds, had two assists, and blocked one shot while coming away with one steal. 
Harrison is averaging 14.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, after scoring 16 points against West Liberty, his fourth straight game in double figures.

SLOW STARTS, BIG FINISHES
Lubbock Christian has made a habit of starting slow but finishing the second half of games strong. Against UAFS, the Chaps shot 40.7 percent in the first half from the field and 18.8 from three. In the second stanza, LCU opened the final 20 minutes of the game making six straight threes on an 18-2 run. The Chaps shot 51.2 percent in the second half against the Lions and 44.4 percent from three.
Against Oklahoma Christian, LCU opened a game shooting less than 15 percent from the floor, shooting just 1-for-9 (11 percent) in the first 8:03 of the game and going down 19-6 against the Eagles. Lubbock Christian finished the second half of that game on a 17-6 run, shooting 45 percent from the floor and 41.6 percent from beyond the arc in the both the second half and overtime period of the game.

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging just 65.1 points per game against Lubbock Christian. So far this season, five opponents that LCU has faced have scored their lowest point total in a game this season. Oklahoma Christian entered the game against Lubbock Christian with the best scoring offense in the LSC at 81.8 points per game, but the Chap defense held the Eagles to a season-low 68 points. Against Arkansas Fort Smith, the Chaps held the conference's leading scorer Payton Brown (22.1 PPG) to 14 points and just 2-for-9 from three. Against West Liberty, the Hilltoppers scored just 83 points, the first time they have been held to under 90 points all season

SCOUTING THE DOLPHINS
- Le Moyne College enters the contest with an 8-5 overall record, having won five in a row after starting the season 3-5. The Dolphins knocked off Lone Star Conference member Angelo State 84-77 on the opening day of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic. LMC led the game 51-38 at halftime and shot 60.61 percent from the field in the opening stanza.
- The Dolphins ranked seventh in the country in blocks per game, averaging 5.2 blocks per game. Isaiah Elmore leads Le Moyne with 1.42 blocks per game, and his 17 total blocks are 2nd in the NE10 and 33rd in Division-II.
- Mike DePersia has been a pickpocket for the Dolphins this season, as his 23 steals lead the NE10 and are the 19th most in the country. His 2.09 steals per game are second in the NE10
- Nate Champion enters his fourth year on The Heights as the head coach of the men's basketball program. In his first year as the Head Coach, Champion posted a 19-9 record while winning the NE-10 Southwest Division. This marked the fourth Southwest Division title for the Dolphins in a row. Champion was named the NE-10 Coach of the Year and was also named to the NABC Under Armor Top 30 under 30 coaches in the country. In his first year, the Dolphins averaged 83 points per game which is the 2nd highest average in school history. Champion also produced two all NE-10 selections in Ryan Roland and Tom Brown.

THE SERIES WITH THE DOLPHINS
This is not only the first meeting ever between Le Moyne and Lubbock Christian, but the first ever meeting between LCU and a team from the NE10. The Dolphins are 2-2 all-time against teams from the Lone Star Conference after knocking off Angelo State 84-77 on Saturday, Dec. 17. Le Moyne's last meeting before that game against a Lone Star Conference school was at the 2018 edition of the Holiday Hoops Classic, where the Dolphins also defeated Angelo State on Dec. 19, 2018 by a score of 64-54. Le Moyne's two losses were to Tarleton State on Dec. 18, 2018 and a loss to West Texas A&M in the 2018 Elite Eight.

LAST TIME OUT
Dec, 17, 2022 - vs No. 4/5 West Liberty - The Chaps shot almost 60 percent from the floor in the second half and held the nation's third-highest scoring offense to under 90 points for the first time this season, as LCU upset no. 4/5 West Liberty 91-83 at the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic.

The 83 points scored by the Hilltoppers is the lowest points scored for West Liberty this season. The Toppers were averaging 100.7 points per game this season. West Liberty shot just 3-for-16 (18.75 percent) from three in the second half and 11-for-34 (32.4 percent) for the game, their fourth lowest shooting percentage from three this season.

As a team, the Chaps went 29-for-37 (78.4 percent) from the free throw line, going 20-for-25 (80.0 percent) in the second half. 

Muhammad led the Chaps with a career-high 21 points. The Las Vegas native was right at home inside the South Point Arena, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line, tying Kenny Hewitt for the single-game free throw percentage record. Hewitt went 14-for-14 against Mid-America Nazarene on Feb. 7, 2009. Muhammad also dished out six assists and had three steals.

Five Chaps finished the game in double figures, with Mackenzie and Harrison both scoring 16 points apiece. Mackenzie also handed out four assists, while Harrison pulled down six rebounds. Gonzales scored 11 points, while MacDonald set a new career-high with 14 points. Jones saw more playing time than usual this season, scoring a season-high five points. 

A WIN WOULD
- Move LCU to 4-0 all-time at the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic
- Be the Chaps' first-ever win over a team from the NE10

UP NEXT
LCU will take a well-deserved Christmas break before jumping back into conference play on Friday, Dec. 30 at The Rip against Cameron. Tip-off is set for 7:30 PM. Tickets are available online at lcuchaps.com