SILVER CITY, N.M. -- Midwestern State snapped a three-game losing streak with its 83-69 win over Lubbock Christian on Saturday, and the Mustangs are on the road Thursday night to face Western New Mexico. Midwestern State seeks its first win at Drag's Court since overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit to win, 81-78, in February of 2019. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST.

Midwestern State (9-4, 3-4) was sensational in the second half on Saturday, shooting 65.4 percent over the final 20 minutes to end the Chaparrals seven-game winning streak.

Bakari LaStrap was 8 of 16 from the field and scored a team-high 19 points, including three 3-pointers on six attempts.

Mason Gibson finished with 17 points and five rebounds, while Shepherd poured in 16 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds for the Mustangs.

Reggie Hill was 5 of 5 from the field and scored 11 points in the victory.

Midwestern State is the third-highest scoring team in the Lone Star Conference and 24th in the nation with 86.5 points per game.

Gibson is the leading scorer for MSU — 11th in the conference — with 15.2 points per game, and he is fifth in the LSC with 60 made free throws and fourth in the league with 80 free-throw attempts.

The Mustangs are attempting the fifth-most free throws in the conference with 23 attempts per game and converting 73.2 percent, which is eighth-best in the league.

Pierre Sanders, who is pouring in 13.8 points per game, leads the LSC and is 14th among NCAA Division II players with 5.6 assists per game.

Sanders has the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country and leads the LSC at 4.29.

Will Shepherd is eighth in the league with two 3-pointers per game and is averaging 12.6 points per game. Shepherd is shooting 38.8 percent from long range (26 of 67).

LaStrap scores 10.9 points per game and is second on the team with 3.4 assists per game.

Austin Lewis is hitting 41 percent of his shots from beyond the arc (25 of 61) and is scoring 8.2 points per game for the Mustangs.

Hill leads Midwestern State with 6.4 rebounds per game and is contributing 8.1 points per game.

Midwestern State is third in the conference with 39.3 rebounds per game but has a minus-2.3 rebounding margin.

The Mustangs lead the conference and are fourth in the nation with 20.46 fast-break points per game.

Sanders and LaStrap are both in the LSC top-10 for steals per game, and the Mustangs are third in the league with 8.8 steals per game. Sanders is sixth with 1.69, and LaStrap is ninth with 1.62 steals per game.

Midwestern State is forcing its opponents into 16.08 turnovers per game, which is the second-highest total in the conference.

Duncan Alevok leads the conference and is 14th in the nation with 28 blocks this season. His 2.15 blocks per game is best in the conference and 17th in the nation.

Opponents are scoring 78.7 points per game against the Mustangs — the 13th-highest total in the LSC.

The Mustangs are 2-1 on the road this season and suffered an 85-71 loss to St. Edward's in their last away game on Dec. 8.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Western New Mexico, 14-3, but has only won four of the last seven meetings, and the MSU Mustangs are 1-3 in their last four visits to Silver City, where their all-time record is 4-3. The home team won each game of the series last season.

Western New Mexico (3-8, 1-5) scored 17 points off 15 turnovers and dominated the second half in a 79-64 victory at Drag's Court last season. The Western Mustangs won the rebounding battle, 38-32, and scored 17 second-chance points with their 14 offensive rebounds.

Western New Mexico is hosting a game for just the third time this season and lost to both St. Mary's (76-63) and St. Edward's (86-65) to open the conference campaign at Drag's Court. The last home game for WNMU was Dec. 2.

The Mustangs from Silver City have lost five of their last six games, including a 90-70 loss at UT Permian Basin on Saturday. Cortaviaus Seales scored 18 points in the loss, and Tanner Vogel finished with 10 points and six rebounds for WNMU. Alex Matthews, a 6-5 junior, scored a season-high 32 points on 11-of-13 shooting for the Falcons.

Western New Mexico is 13th in the conference with 73.4 points per game, but Seales is the second-leading scorer in the LSC with 20.9 points per game.

Prosper Obidiebube is the second-leading scorer for WNMU with 10 points per game, and three other players — Allen Fordham (9.8), LaMarqus Merchant (9.2) and Vogel (9.0) — are averaging nine or more points for the purple and gold clad Mustangs.

Western New Mexico is 12th in the league with 35.3 rebounds per game, but the Mustangs grab just 10.3 offensive boards per contest, which is 14th in the LSC. The rebounding margin for WNMU is plus-1.2, which is 12th in the conference.

Vogel, who has two appearances this season, is averaging eight rebounds per game, and Obidiebube is pulling down 4.9 rebounds per game.

Merchant is sixth in the conference with 4.2 assists per game and has a 1.39 assists-to-turnover ratio, which is 19th in the LSC.

Merchant also leads the team with 16 steals, and WNMU is 15th in the league with 5.64 steals per game.

The Western Mustangs are also 15th in the league with 1.55 blocked shots per game.

Mark Bunker is in his first season as the head coach at Western New Mexico. Bunker was at Scottsdale Community College for nine seasons and took the Artichokes to back-to-back Region I Division II Championships in 2022 and 2023 for the first time in school history. The Artichokes finished 25-9 in Bunker's final season.

Bunker played collegiately at Scottsdale Community College, where he was a two year starter, team captain and appeared in the Junior College All-American All-Star Game as a sophomore. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Arizona State, and spent two years on the Sun Devils basketball team.

Justin Leslie is in his fifth season with Midwestern State and his 17th season as a head coach at the collegiate level. His career record is 322-185 (.635) and he is 56-64 (.467) at MSU. Leslie competed as a 6-8 center at Azusa Pacific from 1996-2001. He is one of just five players in Golden State Athletic Conference history to play on four conference championship teams.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--