CANYON, Texas -- Midwestern State and West Texas A&M resume their Lone Star Conference schedule following the Christmas break with a tilt at First United Bank Center. Tipoff on Friday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 

MIDWESTERN STATE (5-6, 2-3) vs. WEST TEXAS A&M (6-4, 4-0)

Friday, Dec. 30 | 7:30 p.m.
First United Bank Center | Canyon, Texas

Series History | West Texas A&M leads, 44-33

LAST MEETING | Midwestern State's woes at the free throw line in the first half snowballed in the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament semifinals. The Mustangs misfired on 10-of-11 free throws before halftime and West Texas A&M took advantage to build a commanding 18-point lead. That lead snowballed into an 87-55 win for the Buffs, who advanced to the LSC finals for the fifth straight year. Midwestern State finished the game going 4-of-17 from the charity stripe (23.5 percent) after connecting on 22-of-25 free throws in its quarterfinal win over Dallas Baptist. West Texas A&M's Hayden Blankley accounted for seven points of the Buffs' 11-0 run midway through the first half as WT pushed its lead to 28-15 at the 9:47 mark. The lead never slipped below double figures for the remainder of the game reaching a game-high 32 points on Addison Wallace's transition 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play. Sophomore Pierre Sanders paced the Mustangs with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with three 3-pointers, while senior Jermane Carter added nine points.

LAST TIME OUT | Midwestern State's Logan Epes hit five 3-pointers to lead a group of five Mustangs in double figures in an 89-31 win over Randall last week at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Mustangs delivered an historic defensive effort holding the Saints to the fewest points by an opponent during the shot clock era. The shot clock was introduced to the college game in 1985-86. Epes splashed in his first collegiate points on a 3-pointer from the right corner with 9:50 to play in the opening half. The freshman from Garland finished the game with a team-high five triples on seven attempts to close with a game-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. Mason Gibson matched a season-high with 15 points. The redshirt-freshman from Allen hit three 3-pointers and had a campaign-best three steals in 21 minutes. Senior Luke Hamilton was a perfect 5-for-5 from inside the arc and hit a 3-pointer in his eighth consecutive game to finish with 13 points and six rebounds. Senior Derrick Ogechi buried three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points in 15 minutes of floor time. Freshman Duncan Alevok set season highs with 10 points, six rebounds, and four blocked shots. Midwestern State hit a season-high 14 3-pointers on 33 attempts (42.4 percent).

TRACKING THE MUSTANGS | Midwestern State is 2-4 on the road this season… Mustangs have a three-game winning streak and have won back-to-back conference games…MSU is 9-30 as the visitor in the series and 4-15 First United Bank Center…MSU has lost its last five visits …MSU snapped an eight-game losing streak in the series with a 100-90 overtime victory at Ligon Coliseum last season…Justin Leslie is 306-171 (.642) in his 16th season as a head coach…MSU is 40-50 (.444) under Leslie, who is in his fourth season with the university…MSU is 1-4 against WTAMU in the Leslie era…Midwestern State is 15th in the conference, averaging 69.0 points… Mustangs are third in the LSC and 29th in the nation, allowing opponents to score 64.2 points per game… +4.8 scoring margin is 11th in the league… Pierre Sanders leads MSU with 10.6 points per game… Marquis Davison is averaging 10.5 points per game…Jermane Carter is averaging 10.1 points per game…Luke Hamilton is averaging 8.4 points per game…MSU is 14th in the LSC, shooting 42.5 percent from the field (278 of 654)…Davison is shooting 54.8 percent from the field (46 of 84)… John Weger is shooting 54.3 percent from the field (19 of 35)…Jordan Teal is shooting 51.9 percent from the field (27 of 52)…Midwestern is third in the league, holding opponents to 40.5 percent (272 of 672) shooting from the field…Midwestern is shooting 27.9 percent from 3-point range (78 of 280), 16th in the LSC… Ogechi is 17 of 66 (.258) from 3-point range and second in the conference in attempts from beyond the arc…Hamilton is 21 of 60 from 3-point range (.350) and seventh in the league in 3-point attempts…Mustangs are fourth in the conference and 54th in the nation with 25.5 attempts from 3-point range per game…MSU is second in the conference and 12th in the nation by holding opponents to 27.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc (69 of 248)… MSU is eighth in the league with 13.3 assists per game… Carter averages 2.9 assists per game, and Sanders is averaging 2.7 assists per game … MSU is 125 of 181 at the free-throw line (.691), 12th in the LSC in free-throw percentage…Mustangs are 11th in the conference with 16.5 free-throw attempts per game…MSU is 13th in the league with 11.4 made free throws per game… Carter is 32 of 49 from the free-throw line, 13th in the LSC for made free throws and ninth in the league in attempts… Opponents are 93 of 139 from the foul line (.669)…Midwestern State has outrebounded six of its opponents this season…MSU is second in the LSC and 50th in the nation with 39.18 rebounds per game… Midwestern State is sixth in the league and 68th in the nation with 11.82 offensive rebounds per game… Opponents are averaging 35.9 rebounds per game…Mustangs are eighth in the conference with a +3.3 rebounding margin… Carter is third in the league with 85 total rebounds (83rd in the nation) and fourth with 7.7 rebounds per game (82nd in the nation)…Carter is fourth in the conference and 66th in the nation with 2.82 offensive rebounds per game…Sanders is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game, including 1.91 offensive rebounds per game, 13th in the LSC…Davison is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game, 19th in the LSC… MSU is eighth in the conference with 13.4 turnovers per game...Mustangs are forcing 12.36 turnovers per game, which is 15th in the LSC…MSU is ninth in the league with 7.0 steals per game… Sanders is fifth in the LSC with 20 steals and eighth in the league with 1.82 steals per game… MSU is eighth in the league with 3.1 blocks per game … Duncan Alevok is fifth in the LSC with 13 blocks and ninth in the league with 1.18 blocks per game…

SCOUTING WEST TEXAS A&M | WTAMU is 4-0 at home this season…Buffaloes have an eight-game home winning streak…WTAMU has won its last 13 LSC matchups…Lubbock Christian was the last LSC team to beat WTAMU, 85-76, on Feb. 10, 2022… Buffaloes have won nine of the last 10 meetings with Midwestern State overall and have won the last five encounters in Canyon, including a 94-74 victory in a non-conference matchup last season...WTAMU suffered back-to-back losses to ranked opponents in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic…No. 7 Missouri-St. Louis defeated WTAMU in overtime, 83-81, despite Julius Brown scoring 30 points… No. 21 Dominican squeaked out an 83-82 victory over the Buffaloes in a game that featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes…WTAMU had won six-straight games before its trip to Las Vegas…Tom Brown is in his ninth season as the head coach at West Texas A&M and is 215-54 (.799)…WTAMU has not lost more than seven games in a season over the last six campaigns…Buffaloes lead the conference with 81.8 points scored per game, but the Buffs allow 74.9 points per game, which is 15th in the LSC... +6.9 scoring margin is ninth in the conference… Damion Thornton is third in the conference with 17.4 points per game, and Julius Brown is the eighth-leading scorer in the league with 15.2 points per game…WTAMU shoots 44.2 percent from the field, ninth in the LSC... Opponents are shooting 51.6 percent from the field against WTAMU, which is 16th in the conference… Buffaloes shoot 77.2 percent from the free-throw line (207 of 268), which is fourth in the conference…WTAMU leads the league with 20.7 made free throws and 26.8 free-throw attempts per game… Thornton is 50 of 67 (.746) at the free-throw line — the second-most attempts in the conference —and the fifth-most made free throws in the LSC…Larry Wise Buffaloes shoots 36.3 percent from 3-point range (87 of 240), which is the second-best percentage in the conference…WTAMU is third in the LSC with 8.7 3-pointers made per game and fifth with 24.0 attempts per game…Opponents are shooting 37.9 percent from beyond the arc, which is 16th in 3-point percentage defense among LSC schools… Zach Toussaint is hitting 39.7 percent of his 3-point shots (25 of 63), which leads the league and is 62nd in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage…Toussaint is fifth in the league in attempts…Toussaint has made the second-most 3-point shots in the LSC and averages 2.5 3-pointers per game, which is third in the LSC…Wise is eighth in the league, making two 3-point shots per game and is 18 of 49 (.409) from beyond the arc…WTAMU is 15th in the league in rebounding with 30.6 boards per game…Buffs are third in the conference and 45th in the nation in offensive rebounding, pulling down 12.4 per game…-0.1 rebounding margin is 14th in the LSC…WTAMU is 16th in the conference with 11 assists per game…Addison Wallace has nine blocks, which is ninth-most in the LSC…WTAMU is 10th in the league with 2.3 blocks per game…Thornton is 12th in the conference with 16 steals… Buffaloes are seventh in the conference and 47th in the nation with 8.9 steals per game…Buffaloes are sixth in the league and 29th in the nation with 17.6 force turnovers per game…WTAMU is third in the LSC and 39th in the nation with 11.7 turnovers per game, and +5.9 turnover margin is second in the conference and eighth-best in the nation…

UP NEXT | Midwestern State concludes its two-game road trip on Sunday with a stop at Rip Griffin Center to face Lubbock Christian. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.