LUBBOCK, Texas - After an exciting overtime win over Oklahoma Christian, Lubbock Christian looks for their third straight victory, facing Arkansas Fort Smith on Saturday, Dec. 3 inside of the Rip Griffin Center.

Arkansas Fort Smith (4-3, 0-1 LSC) at Lubbock Christian (3-2, 1-0 LSC)
Saturday, Dec. 3 - 3:30 PM
Lubbock, Texas - Rip Griffin Center

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 70-68 win in overtime over Oklahoma Christian. Russell Harrison hit the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left in the extra frame to give LCU the win
- Rowan Mackenzie scored 30 points in the win over OC. It is the second time Mackenzie has scored at least 30 points in a game this season after he scored a career-high 35 on Nov. 12 vs Colorado Mines.
- Mackenzie also went 9-for-9 from the free throw line, finishing one made free throw from being eligible to tie the single game record in free throw percentage
- Arkansas Fort Smith enters the game 4-3 after falling 83-77 to no. 23/25 West Texas A&M on Thursday. UAFS was down 51-31 at halftime before outscoring the Buffs 46-32 in the second half.

A NEW SEASON
Lubbock Christian enters conference play this week, facing Oklahoma Christian and Arkansas Fort Smith at home. LCU has won two-straight Lone Star Conference regular season championships, and have compiled a 43-10 record in the LSC since joining the conference in 2019. The Chaps are now 3-1 all-time in Lone Star Conference openers, winning two in a row after dropping their first ever LSC game to Angelo State 73-63 on Nov. 23, 2019. LCU is also 2-2 in overtime conference games since joining the LSC in 2019 after knocking off Oklahoma Christian 70-68 in OT on Thursday night. 

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 21.2 points per game, second 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.
Shooting a blistering 53.8 percent from three, Mackenzie leads the conference in three-point percentage and ranks 10th in Division-II

NOT SHY AT ALL
Transfer Kurt Wegscheider leads the team in rebounds, averaging 5.4  a game. In his first game with LCU against Regis on Nov. 11, Wegscheider finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Wegscheider has been consistent this season, scoring 11 points in three games this year.
Wegscheider played in 28 games for Utah State Eastern College, averaging 14.2 points and 4.2 rebounds a game. He recorded a double-double on Nov. 19 against Central Wyoming College, scoring a season-high 24 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Wegscheider also tallied 41 steals and 44 assists.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
A total of nine new players will make their debut for the Chaps this season. Of those nine, three are transfers, led by Louisiana-Monroe transfer Russell Harrison. The Monterrey High product averaged 13.1 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game with the Warhawks last season, including a game on 1/6/2022 when Harrison scored 28 points and pulled down 13 boards against Arkansas State. 
Two junior college transfers join the Chaps, with Najeeb Muhammad coming over from Arizona Western College, while Kurt Wegscheider comes over from Utah State East College.
Muhammad played in 28 games for Arizona Western College, averaging 11.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds a night. He shot 37.6% from the floor, including 35.7% from beyond the arc. Muhammad recorded a season-high 21 points on Nov. 10 against the College of Southern Nevada. He recorded double-digit assists twice this season, dishing out 10 assists against Gateway C.C. on Feb. 9 and recording a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists on Nov. 20 against Eastern Arizona College. Muhammad's 139 total assists ranked third in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.

WOKE UP FEELING DANGER RUSS
While Russell Harrison scored just six points against Oklahoma Christian, he hit the biggest shot of the night, knocking down a buzzer-beating layup with 0.2 seconds left in OT to give LCU the 70-68 win over the Eagles. He also hauled down nine rebounds, a season-high for the grad transfer from UL-Monroe.
Harrison returned home for his first game in Lubbock against Arlington Baptist on Nov. 21, scoring 20 points, pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out three assists. Harrison scored the first 11 points of the game for the Chaps, draining three shots from beyond the arc. The former Monterey Plainsman also got it done on the defensive end, with two steals and one block against the Patriots.

SLOW STARTS, BIG FINISHES
For the second time this season, 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.
After an abysmal opening half against Southern Nazarene where the Chaps shot 25 percent from the floor and 12.5 percent from three, LCU has found the offense, ending that game agianst the Crimson Storm on a 31-9 run over the final 9:39 of the game and shooting 57.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from three in the second half. 

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging just 61 points per game against Lubbock Christian. So far this season, all five opponents that LCU has faced have scored their lowest point total in a game this season, with Regis scoring 59 points, Colorado School of Mines scoring 69 points, Southern Nazarene scoring 66 points, and Arlington Baptist scoring just 43 points. 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. The mark is the best scoring defense in the Lone Star Conference and 19th best in Division-II.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
- Arkansas Fort Smith enters the contest 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference after falling 83-77 to no. 23/25 West Texas A&M on Thursday. UAFS was down 51-31 at halftime before outscoring the Buffs 46-32 in the second half.
- Payton Brown is the reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week, and leads the conference in scoring with 22.1 points per game, a mark that also ranks 15th in all of Division-II. Brown is not shy when shooting the basketball, as his 124 field goal attempts lead the conference and ranks seventh in Division-II. His 63 three-point attempts also lead the LSC and are the 12th most in Division-II. Brown has made 22 three-pointers this season, the most in the Lone Star Conference and 24th in the country
- Cameron Bush leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks eighth in Division-II in Assist-to-Turnover Ratio with a mark of 4.60. Bush leads UAFS with 3.3 assists per game and 23 total assists this season.
- UAFS head coach Jim Boone enters his fourth season as the UAFS mentor in 2022-23, but his 37th overall as a head coach at the NCAA Division I and II levels.  The veteran leader is currently ranked 8th nationally in wins among active coaches and top 30 all-time. Boone has compiled 594 wins in his career. At the helm of NCAA Division II institutions, Boone has posted a blistering 497-291 (.631) mark, guiding each of his previous four Division II stops to the NCAA Tournament, an unprecedented accomplishment. During his career, Boone's teams have won eight conference championships, five tournament titles and have made 12 postseason NCAA appearances.

THE SERIES WITH THE LIONS
LCU leads the overall series 9-5, winning six straight games. Arkansas Fort Smith's last win in the series was Jan. 27, 2018 in Fort Smith, Ark, and 82-74 win for the Lions. The Lion's last win in Lubbock was Dec. 2, 2017. 
Last season, the Chaps survived a 57-51 scare from the Lions inside of the Rip Griffin Center. Most meetings between the two teams have been close, with six games being decided by six points or less. Lubbock Christian is 4-2 in those six contests. 

LAST TIME OUT
Dec, 1, 2022 - vs Oklahoma Christian - Despite being down as many as 13 points in the first half, a furious second half rally and a buzzer beater in overtime by Russell Harrison gave Lubbock Christian their first conference win of the season, knocking off Oklahoma Christian 70-68 on Thursday, Dec. 1.

An Alec Zambie scoop and score, along with a pair of Najeeb Muhammad free throws pushed LCU ahead 58-53, but a pair of layups from Antonio Gordon cut the lead down to 58-57 in favor of the Chaps with 1:12 left. Mackenzie came through with another layup with 37 seconds left, giving Lubbock Christian a 60-57 advantage. 

Oklahoma Christian did not blink, as Mojus Mojus drained a three with 26 seconds left to tie the game at 60. Harrison got a look from three with four seconds left for the Chaps, but it rimmed out and the two conference rivals headed to overtime.

Two three throws by Muhammad with 37 seconds left put Lubbock Christian. on top 68-66, but OC answered with a Gordon layup with 26 seconds left. After calling a timeout with 15 seconds left, it was Harrison who got another chance to end the game, getting off a one-handed fall-away layup with 0.2 seconds on the clock that rattled home, and LCU finished off the Eagles with a 70-68 win in overtime. 

A WIN WOULD
- Give LCU a 2-0 start in LSC play for the third straight season
- Be the Chaps' seventh straight win over Arkansas Fort Smith

UP NEXT
Lubbock Christian heads on the road in conference play for the first time this season, traveling down to Laredo to face Texas A&M International on Thursday, Dec. 8. Tip-off is set for 8 PM