CANYON, Texas - The road to Evansville begins for Lubbock Christian on Saturday, Mar. 11, as the Chaps face RMAC champion No. 5/7 Fort Lewis in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional.

NCAA South Central Regional - First Round
#7-seed Lubbock Christian (19-11, 14-8 LSC) vs #2-seed No. 5/7 Fort Lewis College (28-3, 19-3 RMAC)
Saturday, Mar. 11 - 2:30 PM
Canyon, Texas - First United Bank Center

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 76-70 loss to No. 22 West Texas A&M in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament. 
- Rowan Mackenzie scored 21 points and hauled down nine rebounds.The Aussie has scored 590 points this season, the fifth-most in a single season in program history. He needs just 16 points to slide into second place for points in a single season, and 50 points for most all time. With 10 points, Mackenzie will become just the third player to score 600 points in a single season.
- Lubbock Christian is 4-4 all-time in the NCAA Division-II Tournament, including a perfect 3-0 in the first round. The Chaps other win came as the two-seed in the 2021 South Central Regional Semifinal over Oklahoma Baptist.

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN
This is the third straight season that LCU has made the NCAA Tournament, and the fifth time overall. The Chaps hold a 4-4 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament, having won their first round game every single time they have been invited to the big dance. The Chaparrals first-ever tournament win was historic, as Lubbock Christian stunned no. 1 seed and no. 7 Midwestern State 78-73 in overtime in 2016 on the road. LCU reached the NCAA South Central Regional Final in 2021, falling to West Texas A&M 101-92. The Chaps earned the no. 1 seed last season, but fell to Colorado Mesa inside the Rip Griffin Center 63-62 in the regional semifinals. As the lower seed, Lubbock Christian is 2-3 in the NCAA Tournament, their last win coming over three-seed Colorado School of Mines in the first round of the 2019 regional 82-73.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 19.7 points per game, second in the LSC. Mackenzie is third in the LSC in field goal percentage, shooting 54.4 percent from the field so far this season. His 590 total points this season are the fifth-most in a single season in program history. If Mackenzie scores 16 points before the end of the season, he will finish with the second-most points scored by any Chaparral in a single season. 
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. 
He earned his second LSC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Dec. 20, 2022, after scoring 20 points, hauling in seven rebounds and dishing out five assists against Le Moyne. Mackenzie also had 16 points and four rebounds against no. 4/5 West Liberty.
Mackenzie has gotten it done on the defensive end as well, earning LSC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Jan. 3. Against Cameron, Mackenzie had four steals and had a career-high two blocks against the Aggies, holding CU to just 26.7 percent from three as the Chaps scored 22 points off turnovers. His 1.4 steals per game are sixth in the LSC.
 
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.  He then tied his season-high with eight assists against Le Moyne. Muhammad set a new season-best in assists with nine against Cameron.
Muhammad scored 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 against the Hilltoppers. This season, the Arizona Western College transfer is averaging 10.3 points per game, while his 128 total assists are fourth 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. 
On Saturday, Feb. 4, Harrison flirted with a double-double, scoring 27 points and hauling down nine rebounds against UTPB. The Lubbock native shot 5-for-7 from three in the win over the Falcons. 
Harrison is averaging 16.2 points per game, tied for the sixth best mark in the LSC, and 5.4 rebounds per game. For his overall career, Harrison has scored 2,135 points, with 395 points in a season at NAIA Wayland Baptist, and 550 points in one season at JUCO Clarendon. Harrison has scored 486 points this season for the Chaps.

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging 67.3 points per game against Lubbock Christian and holding opponents to just 44.7 percent from the field.
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
St. Edward's entered the regular season meeting with the highest free throw percentage in the conference at 81.2 percent. While the Hilltoppers shot 75 percent from the line in the game, they only attempted four free throws for the entire contest (3-for-4)

BUCKETS
LCU is shooting 47.8 percent from the field, the best mark in the Lone Star Conference. The Chaps shot a blistering 58.3 percent from the field earlier this season against Eastern New Mexico, scoring 50 points against the Greyhounds in the second half of the game alone. Against DBU, Lubbock Christian shot 48.1 percent from the floor, including 47.1 percent from the three-point line. The Chaps are shooting 36.6 percent from deep this season, the second-best mark in the Lone Star Conference. Rowan Mackenzie is now shooting 43.0 percent from three for his career, the fourth best mark in program history.

SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
 - Fort Lewis enters the game as the no. two overall seed in the South Central Region and no. 5/7 in the national polls. The Skyhawks went 28-3 this season, clinching a share of the RMAC regular season championship and winning the RMAC tournament championship.
-  Fort Lewis ranks 17th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 84.1 points per game. Akuel Kot leads the Skyhawks and ranks fourth in the nation in scoring, averaging 24.4 points per game.
- Kot has done well from the charity stripe this season, as his 218 makes from the free throw line rank second in the country. His 86.2 percent from the line is third best in the RMAC
- Bob Pietrack enters his eighth season at the helm of the Fort Lewis College's Men's Basketball Program in 2022-23 after taking the reins in the summer of 2015, posting a career record of 131-67 overall. With a winning percentage of .661 through the 2021-22 season, Pietrack owns the highest winning percentage in Fort Lewis school history for men's basketball.

THE SERIES WITH THE SKYHAWKS
The Chaps and Skyhawks have met before, but this meeting will be the first between the two teams at the Division-II ranks and in the postseason, as the last meeting between the two clubs was on Dec. 6, 1980. Fort Lewis has won four games in a row in the series, leading the overall series 4-2. LCU won the first two games between the two foes, knocking off the Skyhawks 70-62 on Dec. 11, 1973 in Lubbock before earning a road victory in Durango, Colo. on Jan. 7, 1975, taking an 85-71 win over FLC. 

LAST TIME OUT
Mar. 4, 2023 - vs no. 22 West Texas A&M - A 13-2 run by no. 22 West Texas A&M in the second half pushed the top-seeded Buffs over Lubbock Christian 76-70 in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Championships on Saturday, Mar. 4.
For the third time this season, LCU out shot West Texas A&M from the floor in a loss to the Buffs. The Chaps shot 49 percent from the field, while the Buffs shot just 40.6 percent. The difference however was that WT shot 42.9 percent from three, while the Chaparrals shot just 28.6 percent from deep. 
Mackenzie almost recorded his second straight double-double, scoring 21 points and hauling down nine rebounds. The junior shot 11-for-12 (91.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Muhammad scored 16 points while also dishing out five assists. Gonzales scored 13 points for the Chaps, and had four rebounds. Harrison also finished in double digits, scoring 11 points and pulled down five rebounds.

UP NEXT
Should the Chaps win, they will face either #3-seed/no. 14/17 Colorado School of Mines or #6-seed/no. 20/21 Black Hills State in the second round of the NCAA South Central Regional. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM from the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas on Sunday, Mar. 12.