WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Midwestern State closes out the fall slate Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum against Lubbock Christian. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Midwestern State claimed its first win of the season beating Angelo State 80-74 Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Freshman Evan McCarthy scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the final seven minutes of the second half including consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead back to 10 with three minutes to play after the Rams used a 10-2 run to pull within 65-61 with 3:52 to play. Senior Darius Thompson added 17 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Mustangs. MSU's win was fueled by a 44-38 edge on the glass. Angelo State came into the contest as NCAA Division II's 10th-best rebounding club out-boarding the opposition by 10 boards a game. Senior D'Monta Harris, sophomore Jalin Brown and redshirt-freshman Derrick Herrick grabbed seven rebounds each.
 
CLOSE BUT…
Midwestern State has held an advantage in all nine games this season and has led in the second half in seven contests. In fact, the Mustangs have led for a combined 148 minutes this season or 40.5 percent of all games. Further, MSU has held leads in the final five minutes in six games and in the final minute of regulation on four occasions.
  

Opponent	Time with lead	Largest lead	Last time opponent tied/gained advantage
UC Colorado Springs	12:04	7	UCCS took lead, 10:51/2nd
Colorado State-Pueblo	18:41	14	CSU-P tied, 3:51/2nd
West Texas A&M	3:12	2	MSU did not lead in second half
Texas Wesleyan	5:13	6	TXWES took lead, 0:07/2nd
Central Oklahoma	4:09	4	MSU did not lead in second half
Central Missouri	26:41	19	UCM tied, 2:21/2nd
UT Permian Basin	25:15	14	UTPB took lead, 0:03/2nd
Western New Mexico	17:58	8	WNMU tied, 0:24/2nd
Angelo State	34:31	13	ASU led only 2-0, 19:42/1st

  
THE STREAK IS OVER
Midwestern State snapped the program's longest skid with a win over Angelo State Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. MSU also suffered eight consecutive losses on four other occasions during the 1988-89, 1981-82, 1947-48 and 1946-47 seasons. The 0-8 start matched the worst start in program history as the eight-game slides of 1988-89 and 1947-48 also came at the beginning of the season.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
Midwestern State and Lubbock Christian meet for the 38th time on the hardwood Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. MSU leads the series which dates back to the 1971-72 season by a 28-9 margin. This is just the second meeting since 1994 between the programs with the Chaps claiming a 79-73 upset win in overtime in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional on March 12, 2016 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Mustangs are 17-3 all-time against LCU at Ligon Coliseum. Here are the results of the last 10 games of the series between MSU and Lubbock Christian:
 

Date	Result	Location
3/12/16	Lubbock Christian 79, Midwestern State 73	Wichita Falls
2/19/94	Lubbock Christian 82, Midwestern State 76	Lubbock
2/12/94	Midwestern State 123, Lubbock Christian 87	Wichita Falls
3/8/93	Midwestern State 95, Lubbock Christian 69	Levelland, Texas
2/13/93	Midwestern State 100, Lubbock Christian 59	Wichita Falls
1/23/93	Midwestern State 103, Lubbock Christian 92	Lubbock
2/8/92	Midwestern State 101, Lubbock Christian 63	Lubbock
1/25/92	Midwestern State 89, Lubbock Christian 78	Wichita Falls
2/9/91	Lubbock Christian 87, Midwestern State 64	Lubbock
1/19/91	Midwestern State 83, Lubbock Christian 75	Wichita Falls

 
ABOUT THE CHAPS
Lubbock Christian claimed its first road win of the season by beating Cameron 82-66 Thursday night in Lawton. The Chaps, however, have won four of their last five improving to 5-4 overall while leveling their LSC mark at 2-2 with victories over Tarleton State and Cameron. LCU ranks 17th in NCAA Division II forcing 18.1 turnovers per game, but are 35th in D2 and top the LSC fewest personal fouls per game at 15.1. Junior guard Lloyd Daniels is riding a three-game run of scoring 25 points against Dallas Baptist, 16 versus Tarleton State and 18 at Cameron to lead trio of Chaps in double figures at 13.4 ppg. Freshman Ty Caswell (10.6 ppg) has scored in double figures in each of his last four games, while junior Parker Hicks (10.6 ppg) has scored in double figures five times this season. Hicks, a former walk-on at Texas Tech, scored 31.3 points per game in his senior season at Decatur High playing for former MSU standout Drew Coffman. Sophomore Cameron Copley ranks 22nd nationally and second in the LSC dishing out 6.1 assists per game. Lubbock Christian coach Todd Duncan boasts a 143-98 record (.593) in his ninth season at the helm.
 
DEFENDING THE ARC
Midwestern State ranks amongst the best in defending the 3-point arc. The Mustangs rate second in the LSC and 19th in NCAA Division II limiting the opposition to 28.9 percent shooting from deep. Only three of MSU's eight opponents have shot greater than 30.8 percent. The Mustangs also rank in the top half of the conference in blocked shots per game (2.9 / 7th), field goal percentage defense (42.2/4th) and 3-point field goals per game (9.9/5th) and 3-point field goal percentage (37.9/4th).
 
TRENDS
Midwestern State held leads in each of its nine games this season including double-digit second half advantages against Colorado State-Pueblo, Central Missouri, UT Permian Basin and Angelo State. The opposition has outscored the Mustangs 22.1-9.6 in points off of turnovers per game this season and 12.7-8.6 in second-chance points. Midwestern posted a season-high 15 points off of turnovers against UT Permian Basin and had a campaign-best 14 second-chance points against Central Missouri.
 
ALL ABOARD WITH COACH LESLIE
Justin Leslie makes the move to Wichita Falls following a highly successful run at Azusa Pacific. He led his alma mater to an average of 22 wins per season in his 12 season at the helm including nine 20-win campaigns, two Pacific West Conference titles and an NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance in 2015.  Currently, Leslie boasts a 267-129 record (.674) as a collegiate head coach.
 
HARRIS SETS SINGLE-GAME MARK FOR MARKSMANSHIP
Senior guard D'monta Harris connected on eight of his nine 3-point attempts at Central Oklahoma (11/20). The 88.9-percent accuracy is the best in a single game in program history and is the fourth best in NCAA Division II this season. North Georgia sophomore Josh Cottrell nailed all seven his 3-point attempts against Erskine (11/9). The feat was matched by Kutztown junior Tarojae Brake on Nov. 23 against Clarion. Saint Michael's senior Jordan Guzman was 9-for-10 from the arc against Caldwell (11/8). NCAA single-game shooting percentage is based on seven made 3-pointers.
 
HARRIS RIPS NETS FOR 36
Senior guard D'monta Harris connected on 13-of-15 shots including 8-of-9 from the arc for a career-high 36 points on Nov. 20 at Central Oklahoma. The Pontiac, Mich. native completed his second consecutive double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds. Harris ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 28th in NCAA D2 with a 47.8 3-point percentage, while rating sixth in the league and 96th nationally knocking down 2.8 triples a game. Harris is 15th in the LSC in scoring at 15.4 points per game, but ranks as the seventh-best rebounder in the league pulling down 7.0 boards per game. He is eighth in the LSC grabbing 5.1 defensive caroms a contest.
 
DARING DARIUS
Senior guard Darius Thompson leads the Mustangs scoring 15.8 points per game logging double figures in each of MSU's nine games. The Memphis, Tenn. native poured in a season-high 21 with 11 rebounds against Texas Wesleyan (11/16), then added a second double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds against Central Missouri (11/26). He added his third double-double of the campaign going for 10 points and 10 assists at UT Permian Basin (12/5). Thompson has connected on at least two 3-pointers in each game this season and is shooting 50.9 percent from the field. He has a knack for blocking shots with nine in his first nine games to rank sixth in the LSC with 1.0 swat a contest. Thompson is ninth in the conference in field goal percentage.
 
BROWN ERUPTS FOR DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Sophomore forward Jalin Brown set career highs with 21 points and 12 rebounds against Western New Mexico (12/14). The Denton native shot 6-of-8 from the field hitting a pair of 3-pointers and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe while dishing out four assists against WNMU. Brown averages 7.7 rebounds per game – the sixth most in the Lone Star Conference this season.
 
McBUCKETS UNDER THE DOME
Freshman guard Evan McCarthy buried four 3-pointers and scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the final seven minutes of Midwestern State's 80-74 win over Angelo State (12/19). The Mansfield, Texas native has scored in double figures in each of his first three games at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. McCarthy buried three 3-pointers to score 14 points in his dome debut against West Texas A&M, then notched 12 points and dished out four assists against Texas Wesleyan. That is good for a 15 points per game average. McCarthy is shooting 51.4 percent from the field and is 12-of-23 from the arc (52.2) for the season.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State comes out of the Christmas Break to take on UT Tyler on Thursday, Jan. 2 at Herrington Patriot Center. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.