ODESSA, Texas -- Midwestern State has won back-to-back games and is on the road Thursday night for a critical matchup with UT Permian Basin. Tipoff at UTPB Gym Complex is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Midwestern State (14-9, 8-9) is in a three-way tie for ninth place in the Lone Star Conference, one game behind Texas A&M International for eighth place. The top eight teams qualify for the LSC Postseason Tournament. The Mustangs are tied with Oklahoma Christian and UT Permian Basin.
Mason Gibson scored 20 points in his second game back from an injury that forced him to miss six games, and Midwestern State defeated Western New Mexico, 86-70, on Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
Reggie Hill finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and led the team with eight rebounds.
Bakari LaStrap had 12 points and seven assists for the MSU Mustangs, who had 17 assists on 29 field goals in the victory.
UT Permian Basin (13-10, 8-9) won the first meeting with Midwestern State this season, 62-57, as Alex Matthews scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, and DJ Armstrong hit four 3-pointers to account for his 12 points during the game at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Jan. 20. Lathaniel Bastian finished with nine points and 13 rebounds in the victory.
Will Shepherd hit a season-high five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points for Midwestern State, and
Amaechi Chukwu grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds for the Mustangs, who took an eight point lead with 7:47 to play in the first half.
Midwestern State is the fourth-highest scoring team in the LSC with 82.2 points per game, but the Mustangs are allowing opponents to score 77.3 points per contest, which is ninth in the LSC.
Gibson is the leading scorer for MSU and eighth in the conference with 16.4 points per game. The 6-0 sophomore guard from Allen, Texas, is 91 of 124 (.734) from the free-throw line and has accounted for the sixth-most points from the foul line in the LSC.
Pierre Sanders is the second-leading scorer from MSU with 14 points per game. The 5-10 senior guard from Hutto, Texas, is third in the conference with 4.6 assists per game and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.84, which is 17th-best in the nation. Sanders is one of 11 players in NCAA Division II to post a triple-double this season. In a 108-104 double overtime win against St. Mary's on Nov. 18, Sanders had 14 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
LaStrap is averaging 11.5 points and 3.6 assists per game this season. LaStrap had 12 points and seven assists in the win over Western New Mexico on Saturday. The 6-1 junior from Houston had 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting against the Falcons last month, and he has scored in double-figures 14 times this season, including seven of the last nine games. He is averaging 14.2 points in his eight road appearances this season.
Will Shepherd is scoring 11.4 points per game for the Mustangs and is shooting 38.3 percent from beyond the arc this season (44 of 115). The 6-8 junior forward from Dallas, Texas, is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor (85 of 201) and 89.1 percent from the foul line (49 of 55). Shepherd has hit 29 of 30 free throws over his last 11 games. He is also 29 of 30 from the free-throw line on the road this season and has made 28 consecutive free throws as a visitor. His only miss on the road came in a 95-78 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State on Nov. 25, when he was 3 of 4 at the foul line.
Reggie Hill is the leading rebounder for MSU with 6.3 boards per game. The 6-8 junior forward from Melbourne, Florida, is averaging 8.8 points per game and is shooting 50.8 percent from the field (64 of 126), including 35.6 percent from 3-point range (21 of 59). Hill was 6 of 8 from the field and scored 13 points against Western New Mexico.
Midwestern State leads the conference and is 29th in the nation with 39.83 rebounds per game, and the Mustangs are third in the league — 31st in the nation — with 12.87 offensive rebounds per game.
Duncan Alevok is the leading shot blocker in the LSC with 36 blocks this season, which is 36th in the nation, and MSU is blocking the second-most shots in the league with 4.6 per game. Alevok is responsible for 1.57 blocks per game.
The Mustangs are forcing the seventh-most turnovers in the LSC with 13.43 per game and eighth in the conference with 12.2 turnovers committed per game. The plus-1.2 turnover margin is eighth-best in the league.
UT Permian Basin leads the all-time series with the Mustangs, 10-8, but MSU has won four of the last six encounters. Midwestern State is 2-6 all-time when visiting the Falcons, and lost its last trip to the UTPB Gym Complex, 79-76, as Sanders scored 18 points and spearheaded a comeback with MSU trailing 71-59 with 3:24 remaining. Gibson buried two 3-pointers including a triple with 23 seconds remaining to pull the Mustangs to within a point at 77-76.
The Falcons have a three-game losing streak that started with a 95-82 loss at Eastern New Mexico. UTPB lost the first two of its four-game homestand, falling to West Texas A&M, 76-69, and Lubbock Christian rallied for a 60-58 win on Saturday.
Bastian was 6 of 11 from the field and finished with a double-double against the Chaparrals, scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. The 6-8 senior from the Bahamas is a transfer from Cal-Stat Fullerton and is the leading rebounder in the LSC with 10.8 boards per game, which is sixth-most in the nation. He averages 13.1 points per game this season. Bastian is eighth in the conference with 1.17 blocks per game and has 27 total blocks, which is seventh-most in the LSC.
Matthews has scored in double figures 15 times this season, including a 14-point output against Lubbock Christian on Saturday. The 6-5 junior from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, is the leading scorer for the Falcons with 13.8 points per game.
Keyon Craddock, who is scoring 12.3 points per game, leads UTPB with three assists per game. Craddock had three assists but was held to eight points on 2-of-10 shooting at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last month. Craddock was 2 of 6 from 3-point range against the Mustangs but has shot 42.7 percent (44 of 103) from long range this season. Craddock had a season-high 27 points at Western New Mexico and matched a season-high with five 3-pointers on 10 attempts. He was 5 of 5 from long range in an 86-56 win over Northern New Mexico on Nov. 24.
Armstrong, who averages 10.9 points per game, is the Falcons' most prolific 3-point shooter, averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers per game and shooting 41.3 percent (62 of 150) from beyond the arc. Armstrong was 7 of 8 from 3-point distance and scored a season-high 23 points in a 104-74 win over Southeastern Oklahoma on Nov. 25. In the Falcons last win, a 107-79 triumph at Western New Mexico on Feb. 1, Armstrong was 6 of 11 from 3-point range and scored 20 points.
Maison Adeleye scored eight points at MSU on Jan. 20, but he has scored double figures in the six games since that encounter, including 10 points against Lubbock Christian on Saturday. The 6-4 junior from Arlington is averaging 10.9 points per game and is shooting 49.7 percent from the field (87 of 175).
Zy Wright, a 6-5 junior from Lincolnton, Georgia, pulled down a season-high nine rebounds in a 76-69 loss to West Texas A&M on Feb. 8. Wright has been averaging 10.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Falcons.
UTPB has the second-best rebounding margin in the LSC at plus-4.3. The Falcons average 34 rebounds per game, which is 12th in the conference.
The Falcons are the eighth-highest scoring team in the conference with 79.4 points per game and boast the third-best scoring defense in the league, allowing 69.5 points per game. The scoring margin is fourth in the LSC at plus-9.9.
UT Permian Basin shoots 47.6 percent from the field, which is fifth-best in the conference, and the Falcons have the fifth-best 3-point shooting percentage at 38.4 percent, which is 27th among NCAA Division II schools.
UTPB only commits 11.7 turnovers per game, which is fourth in the league, and the Falcons are fifth in the LSC at forcing turnovers — 13.57 per game. The plus-1.9 turnover margin is fifth-best in the conference.
The Falcons are the third-best free-throw shooting team in the LSC and 10th in the nation at 78.5 percent. Craddock leads the conference and is 12th in the nation with a free-throw percentage of 91.1 percent (72 of 79), and Matthews is shooting 84 percent from the foul line (84 of 100), which is sixth-best in the LSC.
Kyle Tolin is in his third season as the head coach at UTPB and has a record of 42-41 (.506) with the Falcons). Tolin was the head coach at Arkansas-Monticello for seven seasons and had 108 victories with 89 losses while guiding the Boll Weevils. Tolin scored over 1,000 points during his four-year playing career at Oklahoma Baptist and was a two-time All-SAC honorable mention. He was named OBU's Senior Male Athlete of the Year in 2004.
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 327-190 (.632) and he is 61-69 (.469) 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--
