WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State is hoping to return to its winning ways as it returns to D.L. Ligon Coliseum after a four-game road trip. Eastern New Mexico visits the Mustangs on Thursday night with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Greyhounds won the first meeting of the season in Portales, 108-91, on Jan. 13.

The Mustangs have matched their longest losing streak of the season with three consecutive losses, including an 89-62 loss to top-ranked West Texas A&M on Saturday as Larry Wise scored a season-high 32 points for the Buffaloes, who hit 15-of-29 shots from 3-point range.

Midwestern State is the sixth-highest scoring team in the LSC with 81.5 points per game, but the Mustangs are allowing opponents to score 78.7 points per contest, which is 11th in the LSC.

Mason Gibson, who missed the last six games due to injury, is the leading scorer for MSU and eighth in the conference with 16.8 points per game. Gibson scored 31 points in his last game at Eastern New Mexico. The 6-0 sophomore guard from Allen, Texas, is averaging 21.2 points per game on the road this season. Gibson is 81 of 104 (.779) from the free-throw line and has accounted for the fourth-most points from the foul line in the LSC.

Pierre Sanders is the second-leading scorer from MSU with 14.1 points per game. The 5-10 senior guard from Hutto, Texas, is second in the conference with 4.8assists per game and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.78, which is 23rd-best in the nation. Sanders is one of 10 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.

Will Shepherd is scoring 11.8 points per game for the Mustangs and is shooting 38.7 percent from beyond the arc this season (41 of 106). The 6-8 junior forward from Dallas, Texas, is shooting 42.2 percent from the floor (79 of 187) and 89.1 percent from the foul line (49 of 55). Shepherd has hit 29 of 30 free throws over his last nine games.

LaStrap is averaging 11.4 points and 3.3 assists per game this season. LaStrap had nine points and five rebounds at West Texas A&M on Saturday.

Reggie Hill is the leading rebounder for MSU with 6.4 boards per game. The 6-8 junior forward from Melbourne, Florida, is averaging 8.5 points per game and is shooting 49.1 percent from the field (56 of 114), including 35.2 percent from 3-point range (19 of 54). Hill is coming off a season-high 19-point performance at WT.

Midwestern State leads the conference and is 36th in the nation with 39.33 rebounds per game, and the Mustangs are third in the league — 29th in the nation — with 12.86 offensive rebounds per game.

Duncan Alevok is the leading shot blocker in the LSC with 33 blocks this season, which is 32nd in the nation, and MSU is blocking the second-most shots in the league with 4.5 per game. Alevok is responsible for 1.57 blocks per game.

The Mustangs are forcing the seventh-most turnovers in the LSC with 13.48 per game and eighth in the conference with 12.3 turnovers committed per game. The plus-1.1 turnover margin is eighth-best in the league.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Eastern New Mexico, 37-20, and has won 18 of the 26 meetings in Wichita Falls. The Greyhounds have won four of the last seven encounters, including the last two, which were both in Portales. Sanders scored 17 points and Gibson finished with 10 points as the Mustangs won the last clash at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, 56-53, in January of 2023.

Eastern New Mexico, which has a three-game winning streak and has won six of its last eight games, is the second-highest scoring team in the conference with 89.8 points per game, and the Greyhounds are 12th in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score 79 points a game.

Jachoree Ealy is the leading scorer in the LSC with 21.8 points per game for ENMU. Ealy scored 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting against MSU at Greyhound Arena last month. The 6-7 forward from Conway, Arkansas, is shooting 62 percent (134 of 216) from the field, which leads the league and is 11th among NCAA Division II shooters. Ealy has not played since he scored 29 points in the Greyhounds' 87-86 victory at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 27.

Johnson is shooting 52.2 percent from 3-point range and is scoring 15.6 points per game for Eastern New Mexico and is coming off a 27-point performance at UTPB. Johnson hit 9-of-12 shots against the Falcons and was 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

Mario Whitley, who is scoring 11.7 points per game, is grabbing 7.3 rebounds for the Greyhounds, who are second in the league with 39.25 rebounds per game. ENMU leads the league with 27.1 defensive rebounds a game.

Lyron Bennett dishes out 4.2 assists per game, which is fourth-most in the LSC. ENMU has the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC and is 11th in the nation at 1.55. The Greyhounds average 18.4 assists per game, which leads the league and is sixth-most in the country.

ENMU takes more free throws than anyone in the conference with 25.6 attempts per game, which is 10th most in the nation. However, ENMU is 12th in free-throw percentage at 70.8. The Greyhounds make 18.1 free throws per game, which is 12th-most in NCAA Division II.

The Greyhounds are the most effective LSC team in transition with 17.7 fast-break points per game, which is seventh-most in the nation. ENMU shoots 50.8 percent from the field, which leads the LSC and is eighth-best in the country.

Jose Murillo and Conrad Luczynski are both averaging 1.25 blocks per game, and ENMU is blocking 4.7 shots per game, which leads the conference and is 13th in the nation.

Brett Owen became the 14th head coach in the history of Eastern New Mexico men's basketball in early May of 2020. Owen joined the Greyhounds following a nine-year tenure as an assistant coach at the University of Southern Indiana.

Last season, he helped the program to a 17-12 (12-10 LSC) mark and a trip to the Lone Star Conference tournament in Frisco, Texas. The twelve wins in league play were the most since the 1950's when the team was a member of the now-defunct Frontier Conference.

Owen is 38-35 (.521) at ENMU.

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 325-190 (.631) and he is 59-69 (.461) 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 Western New Mexico on Saturday at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

--MSUMustangs.com--