DALLAS, Texas (December 6, 2024) – The Lubbock Christian men's basketball team went into the half tied with Dallas Baptist 31-31, but took control with a 17-2 run in the second half and held off a late comeback attempt to knock off the No. 5 Patriots on the road.
 
It was the second top-10 win of the season for the Chaparrals (7-3, 3-1), who also beat No. 8 Colorado School of Mines on the road on Nov. 8. LCU's last win against a top-five opponent was March 2, 2024, when they beat No. 4 West Texas A&M 72-67, also on the road.
 
This is the fifth-straight matchup between DBU and LCU in which the road team has come out on top, dating back to the 2019 game that the Patriots won in Lubbock in triple-overtime. The last time the home team won a game in the series was Feb. 8, 2018, when the Chaps won 84-78 in the Rip Griffin Center.
 
Three Lubbock Christian players scored in double figures, led by Ethan Duncan, who had 21 points. Amondo Miller Jr. tacked on 16 points and two steals and Jaylen Thompson chipped in as well with 12 points, six rebounds and two steals off of the bench.
 
Lubbock Christian grabbed 33 rebounds in Friday's game compared to Dallas Baptist's 28. LCU spread the rebounding around, getting a team-high six each from Thompson, Alex Anamekwe and Ty Caswell.
 
The Lubbock Christian defense was a problem in Friday's game, forcing 13 Dallas Baptist turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 25 points on the other end of the floor. LCU committed 15 turnovers themselves, which was their most in a game this season, but is also nine fewer than DBU has forced on average this year.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It set up to be another classic battle between two teams who have had games decided by single-digits in six of the last seven meetings throughout the first half. The largest lead of the opening period was only six (by the Patriots) and when the horn sounded, the game was knotted up at 31-all.
 
The second half, however, was a much different story.
 
Out of the break, it looked as though the Chaps were going to run DBU out of their own gym. An and-one layup by Miller Jr. just two minutes into the half sparked a 13-2 Chaparral run that gave them the first double-digit lead by either team. But they didn't stop there.
 
LCU followed up that run with another, this time of the 17-2 variety, and when Najeeb Muhammad hit both free throws with 7:03 left in the game, the Chaps were up by a whopping 24 points. The Patriots would not give up though.
 
Dallas Baptist immediately answered with an 18-2 run of their own, cutting the gap all the way back to single-digits just four minutes later and trailing by just five with 1:05 to go. The Chaps had gotten into the bonus early in the second half though, and hit 18-for-23 from the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes as DBU ran out of time on their comeback attempt.
 
GAME NOTES
» Ty Caswell played in his 100^th collegiate game Friday night, all with Lubbock Christian. He joins Aaron Gonzales, who played in his 100^th career game earlier this season, as the only two Chaps to have reached that milestone.
» Ethan Duncan led the Chaparrals with a game-high 21 points, 14 of which came in the second half. It is his second-straight game with at least 20 points and third overall this season.
» The Lubbock Christian bench made an impact by adding 24 points to its scoring output.
» DBU only lost twice at home in the 2023-24 season and has an .830 winning percentage in the Berg Center since the start of the 2015-16 season.
» LCU was 22-29 from the free throw line in the game, or 75.9 percent – slightly above their already league-leading season average of 75.2 percent.

This article was partially created using technology provided by Data Skrive.