WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State has won five of its last six home games and can finish the season with a 12-4 record at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Mustangs have to beat TAMIU in the home finale in order to extend their home winning streak to four games on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Pierre Sanders was 6 of 7 from the field and scored 14 points in a 72-62 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday night. Amaechi Chukwu posted his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and the Mustangs clinched their second winning season in the last three campaigns.

Midwestern State (15-11, 9-11) is the fifth-highest scoring team in the LSC with 81.2 points per game, but the Mustangs are allowing opponents to score 76.8 points per contest, which is 10th in the LSC.

Gibson is the leading scorer for MSU and 10th in the conference with 16.3 points per game. The 6-0 sophomore guard from Allen, Texas, is 98 of 133 (.737) from the free-throw line and has accounted for the seventh-most points from the foul line in the LSC.

Sanders is the second-leading scorer for MSU with 14 points per game. The 5-10 senior guard from Hutto, Texas, is third in the conference with 4.3 assists per game and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.76, which is 16th-best in the nation. Sanders is one of 14 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.

Bakari LaStrap is averaging 12.2 points and 3.4 assists per game this season. The 6-1 junior from Houston has scored in double-figures 17 times this season, including 10 of the last 12 games. He is averaging 11.7 points in his 14 home appearances this season.

Will Shepherd is scoring 10.7 points per game for the Mustangs and is shooting 34.4 percent from beyond the arc this season (45 of 131). The 6-8 junior forward from Dallas, Texas, is shooting 38.5 percent from the floor (89 of 231) and 87.1 percent from the foul line (54 of 62).

Reggie Hill is the leading rebounder for MSU with 6.8 boards per game. The 6-8 junior forward from Melbourne, Florida, is averaging 8.6 points per game and is shooting 46.8 percent from the field (72 of 154), including 33.8 percent from 3-point range (24 of 71).

Midwestern State leads the conference and is 13th in the nation with 40.9 rebounds per game, and the Mustangs are second in the league — 17th in the nation — with 13.5 offensive rebounds per game.

Duncan Alevok is the third-leading shot blocker in the LSC with 36 blocks this season, which is 57th in the nation, and MSU is blocking the second-most shots in the league with 4.4 per game, which is 26th among Division II programs. Alevok is responsible for 1.4 blocks per game.

The Mustangs are forcing the fifth-most turnovers in the LSC with 13.5 per game and eighth in the conference with 12.5 turnovers committed per game. The plus-1.0 turnover margin is eighth-best in the league.

Midwestern State is 4-2 in the all-time series with TAMIU and is 3-0 when hosting the Dustdevils, who have not made an appearance at D.L. Ligon Coliseum since a 71-67 loss in December of 2020, when Sanders was a freshman and scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and hit a pair of 3-pointers. It was Sanders fourth game as a Mustang.

Sanders scored 22 points in a 79-68 loss at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building last season, hitting 11-of-17 shots from the field. Sanders has averaged 13.3 points in four previous meetings against the Dustdevils, who snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with the win in Laredo last February.

TAMIU (16-10, 12-8) is coming off a 71-57 victory at Cameron, and the Dustdevils set the program record for most LSC wins in a season. Jaylen Thompson, Olaverr Camacho and Emaniel Alexadre each scored 12 points, and Esteban Roacho scored 11 as the Dustdevils used a balanced attack to defeat the Aggies and improve to 5-8 on the road this season.

The Dustdevils extended their winning streak to five games and have won eight of their last nine games. TAMIU closed out its home schedule last week and won its final seven games in Laredo, where the Dustdevils were 11-2 this season.

Camacho has won Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week each of the last two weeks. Camacho pulled down 14 defensive rebounds and blocked two shots to help lead Texas A&M International to a 2-0 week against nationally-ranked DBU and UT Tyler. Earlier this month, Camacho had 11 defensive rebounds, five blocks, a steal and led a unit that allowed just 58 points per game in conference wins against UAFS and Oklahoma Christian.

The Dustdevils are holding opponents to 65.4 points per game, which is the best scoring defense in the league and 12th in the nation. TAMIU scores the second-fewest points among LSC teams with 68.4 points per game.

Mathew Okoye, a 6-3 junior from Sugarland, Texas, is leading TAMIU with 13.8 points per game, and John Achebe, a 6-4 senior from Wylie, Texas, is the leading rebounder with 6.6 boards per game. Achebe is scoring 9.6 points per game.

Achebe also leads the team with 2.4 assists per game and has 34 steals for the Dustdevils, who average 7.8 steals per game and force 13.9 turnovers per game.

The Dustdevils have the lowest 3-point percentage in the LSC at 28.7 percent (144 of 502)

Mac McConnell is a graduate of Tarleton State and is in his fourth season as the TAMIU head coach. The Dustdevils finished 18-12 last season and are 48-50 (.490) under McConnel's direction. McConnel was 13-39 (.250) in two seasons as the head coach at East Central. His career record is 61-89 (.407).

McConnell earned his first opportunity as a head coach at Ranger College, a junior college in Ranger, Texas, where he spent four seasons. While there, he led his teams to back-to-back 20-win seasons, including a 24-10 record in 2009-2010 which at the time was the program's best record in 20 years.

McConnell played for three years at Tarleton posting a record of 53-29 under legendary head coach Lonn Reisman.

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 328-192 (.631) and he is 62-71 (.466) 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.

Midwestern State plays its final game of the season at Cameron on Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

🏀

--MSUMustangs.com--