No. 21 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (25-7, 19-4)
vs. No. 6 DALLAS BAPTIST (29-4, 19-3)
Sunday, March 9, 2025 – 3:30 p.m.
Comerica Center (Frisco, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
For the second-straight season, the Lubbock Christian Chaparrals are playing for the Lone Star Conference Championship. They will take on DBU at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the Comerica Center for a chance at the league title and the conference's automatic qualification for the NCAA Tournament. The LSC will have a first-time winner no matter what, as the Chaps have never won the league tournament in their six years, and DBU is making its first-ever appearance in the championship game. The Chaps will be looking to win a conference tournament for the first time since 2001, when they won the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, which was hosted in the newly-opened Rip Griffin Center.
 
ROAD TO THE FINALS
The top two seeds are meeting in the championship game of the LSC tournament for the first time since 2020, when the No. 1-seeded West Texas A&M beat the No. 2-seeded St. Edward's. DBU got here by winning the league with a 19-3 record, finishing one game ahead of LCU at 19-4. The Patriots were winners of the East Division, while the Chaps won the West. DBU won its quarterfinal matchup against Angelo State 85-63 and beat St. Edward's 78-71 in the semis. LCU is the first team ever to play two overtime games in the same LSC tournament, beating Eastern New Mexico in the first round and West Texas A&M in round two. They erased a 16-point deficit against the Buffs on the way to the win.
 
MILESTONES
With his 21^st point (of a total 37) against West Texas A&M on Friday, LCU guard Ethan Duncan reached the 1000-point mark in his collegiate career. He is the third Chaparral to reach that milestone this season, joining Najeeb Muhammad, who got to 1000 on Jan 25 against Cameron, and Ty Caswell, who just got to the millennium mark on Friday against ENMU. Muhammad is also close to another milestone. His 380 career assists leave him four short of surpassing Marcus Arrington (2013-17) for fifth all-time in LCU history.
 
CHARITY STRIPE
A big part of LCU's comeback against WT on Saturday was their success at the free throw line, where they hit 24 of their 28 attempts, shooting 85.7 percent. Duncan did the majority of that damage, going 12-14 individually. This season, the Chaps are shooting 80.2 percent from the charity stripe, which leads the Lone Star Conference. Duncan is shooting 91.4 percent from the line to lead the team, but does not have enough attempts to qualify for the league leaderboards. Muhammad does though, and his 86.1 percent shooting is the second-best mark in the LSC.
 
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST
Even with the extra five minutes, Lubbock Christian held West Texas A&M well below it's scoring average on Saturday. The Chaps have one of the top defenses in the nation (No. 14), and lead the LSC, allowing just 65.8 points per game. LCU opponents shoot 42.9 percent, including just 32.8 percent from behind the arc. The Chaps have held opponents under 60 points 10 times this season and are undefeated in those contests. When LCU played DBU in the regular season, the Chaps held the Patriots to just 67 points, which is their second-lowest total this year.
 
LONE STAR ALL-STARS
The 2024-25 Lone Star Conference men's basketball awards were announced on Wednesday night, with six Lubbock Christian players honored, including LSC Player of the Year Ethan Duncan. Duncan is the first LCU player to win the league's Player of the Year award since Parker Hicks won it in 2022, which was his second-straight year earning the accolade. He also earned a spot on the All-LSC First Team. Najeeb Muhammad was named to the All-LSC Second Team. Ty Caswell was an All-LSC Third Team selection and also earned a spot on the All-Academic Team, where he was joined by Aaron Gonzales. Amondo Miller Jr. and Sean Murphy were named to the All-LSC Honorable Mention Team.
 
REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED
The third NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday, with LCU holding their spot for a second-straight week. The Chaps came in at No. 3 this week with a 22-7 overall D-II record, including 20-7 in South Central Region play. The two teams above LCU are No. 1 Colorado School of Mines and No. 2 DBU, both teams the Chaps have beat this season. Other LSC teams under consideration include Midwestern State, St. Mary's, St. Edward's, Eastern New Mexico, Angelo State and West Texas A&M. Regis is the only other RMAC team in the rankings at No. 10. The D-II selection show will take place Sunday night at 10 p.m.
 
NATONALLY KNOWN
A 1-1 weekend against Midwestern State to end the regular season did a little damage to the Chaps' national reputation, but not enough to drop them out of the rankings. They actually stood pat at No. 21 in the D2SCSC poll, which has been their slot for three straight weeks since they entered the top-25. In the NABC poll, they did drop, falling to No. 22. Their only opponent last week, MSU, entered the NABC poll and holds the No. 25 spot.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE PATRIOTS
This will be the 57^th all-time meeting between Dallas Baptist and Lubbock Christian, but only the 55^th with LCU as a four-year institution. The Patriots lead the all-time series 33-20 and have won six out of the last eight meetings. Six of those seven meetings were also decided by single digits and one other was a triple-overtime thriller at the Rip Griffin Center in 2019. The only regular season meeting was won by the Chaps, in a 76-67 road upset of the then-No. 5 Patriots in a game that featured a 17-2 run by LCU immediately followed by an 18-2 run from DBU.
 
SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS

• DBU leads the league in turnovers forced, averaging 22.3 per game
• The Patriots put two players on the All-LSC First Team in Cameron Kahn and Ricky Lujan. Xavion Brown was also named the league's Defensive Player of the Year
• Averaging 85.8 points per game, DBU has the second-best offense in the conference
• DBU head coach Dr. Blake Flickner was named the LSC Coach of the Year. He is 375-215 all-time
• The Patriots shoot just 67.6 percent from the free throw line, which is the fourth-lowest mark in the conference