LUBBOCK, Texas (February 8, 2022) – The Lubbock Christian men's basketball team started a new win streak on Tuesday night, as senior forward Parker Hicks set a new school record for points in a single game to lead the Chaps past Texas A&M-International 76-68.
 
The Decatur native was hot from the start. He scored the first 34 LCU points himself and went into the locker room already with a new career-high at 36. He didn't shoot as much in the second half, but was 5-7 for 14 more points. Overall for the night, Hicks was 16-22, including 6-8 from behind the arc. He was 12-14 from the free throw line and led the team in rebounds with eight.
 
Until Tuesday, the school scoring record was held by former Chap forward Brennen Fowler, who scored 47 points against Randall on Jan. 4, 2019. Hicks scored the 48^th, record-breaking point from the free throw line with 4:09 left to play. He added one more layup to get to 50 with three minutes left in the game.
 
The 50 points are the most scored by an LSC player this year and tied for the fifth-most by any player in Division II this season. Hicks was two points away from matching the Lone Star Conference record for points scored in a league game and five points shy of tying the league's best single-game mark ever. He is the first LSC player to reach the 50-point mark in a game since Chris Hagen (Midwestern State) did it on Dec. 13, 2010.
 
Cameron Copley was the only other Chap to score in the first half, hitting a jumper in the paint a full 19 minutes and 32 seconds into the game. The basket put the Chaps up by five, and even with Hicks as hot as he was, they went into halftime up by just three points
 
A big part of the reason the game was so close was TAMIU's Greg Bowie II, who hit a runner in the lane as the first half expired to cut the deficit to three. Bowie had a great night himself, and it was the kind that would usually get you recognized as the player of the game. He scored 16 in the first half and ended the game with 33, shooting 12-20 from the field, including 5-8 on three-pointers.
 
Bowie scored the first bucket of the second half, and the Dustdevils quickly took the lead on a jumper by Jermaine Drewey at the 18:24 mark. TAMIU pushed the lead out as far as seven points with 14:08 to go, but Hicks hit a layup followed by a three-pointer to get the Chaps back in it.
 
LCU did spread the scoring around a little more in the second half, as Hicks got some help from Lloyd Daniels and Aaron Gonzales. Daniels got the Chaps the lead back with 8:47 left in the game with a layup and hit a jumper on the next LCU possession to push it to three. He was 6-8 from the field in the final 20 minutes for 15 points.
 
The game stayed close, though, because Bowie kept scoring. He hit a three-pointer with 6:33 left and got three the hard way with just over four minutes left. Lubbock Christian kept in front with layups from Gonzales and Hicks.
 
Gonzales hit the back-breaker with 1:51 left on the clock, catching in the corner and drilling a three-pointer to put the Chaps up by six. Bowie finally missed his first three-pointer on the other end and Zach Stepp grabbed the rebound. Daniels was fouled and hit both free throws and the Chaps made one final defensive stop.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
With his 50-point game, Hicks' scoring average for the season rose nearly two full points, to 19.2 points per game. That mark ranks second in the Lone Star Conference, behind only Matthew Wilson's 20.7 points per game.
 
TURNING POINT
With the game tied at 53-all with 11:02 left to play, Bowie hit a three-pointer to put the Dustdevils back on top. The Chaps scored the next eight points, getting baskets from Hicks, Daniels and Gonzales to take the lead for good.
 
NEXT UP
It's another short turnaround for the Chaps, who will face another tough test Thursday in a road Rivalry on the Range matchup against West Texas A&M.