DALLAS -- Midwestern State is making its 12th appearance in the NCAA Division II postseason but its first since 2016. The Mustangs are the No. 4 seed in the South Central Region and face St. Edwards on Saturday night at Burg Center on the campus of Dallas Baptist University. Tipoff time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Mustangs claimed South Central Region titles in 2009, 2010, and 2011 — advancing to three consecutive Elite Eights.

Midwestern State is 38-27 (.585) all-time in national tournament games which includes a 21-16 mark in 15 NAIA appearances and a 17-11 mark in 10 previous NCAA showings.

Midwestern State is 8-1 all-time in NCAA Division II South Central Region first-round games.

Midwestern State qualified for its 27th overall national postseason berth with a record of 22-7, but the Mustangs are coming off back-to-back losses. MSU lost its regular season finale to Lubbock Christian, 74-57, and were upended in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament by West Texas A&M, 70-57.

Jonathan Jackson buried three triples and led a trio of Mustangs in double figures with 13 points as the Mustangs used a 14-1 run late in the second half to defeat St. Edward's in their regular season confrontation, 63-62. Pierre Sanders finished with 12 points and six assists in the victory, while Will Shepherd scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Nov. 23.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with St. Edward's, 19-12, and is 3-4 against the Hilltoppers since the private, Catholic university based in Austin, Texas, joined the LSC. The two schools have never met in the postseason.

Mason Gibson is the fifth-leading scorer in the LSC with 16.5 points per game for the Mustangs this season, but the Hilltoppers held him to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting in the first meeting this season. Gibson did hit two of the Mustangs' 11 3-pointers  in that game on three attempts.

The 6-0 junior from Allen, Texas, scored double figure in 24 of 28 games played this season and scored at least 20 points in 10 games. Gibson poured in a season-high 33 points in a 119-114 double-overtime victory against Adams State in November. He scored 31 points in a 77-75 loss to Dallas Baptist at Burg Center on Dec. 4.

Gibson is hitting 75.2 percent (91-of-121) of his free throws this season. He is shooting 46.9 percent from the field (161-of-343) and 42.6 percent from 3-point range (49-of-115).

Gibson is also averaging 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game for the Mustangs.

Sanders leads MSU with 3.9 assists per game, and the fifth-year senior is the second-leading scorer with 12 points per game.

Sanders played in all 28 regular season games for the third consecutive season and is averaging 29.1 minutes per game. Sanders started in 110 of 130 games as a Mustang, including every game of the last three seasons, and he is averaging 30.1 minutes per game for his career. No one has played more minutes for Midwestern State than the 3,909 logged by Sanders.

Sanders is the ninth all-time leading scorer at Midwestern State with 1,571 points, tied with O'Neal Weaver. Sanders is 11th all-time with 570 made field goals, just one fewer than Ricky Cobb.

Sanders needs just six more assists to match Marquette Wilkins total of 465 as the all-time assists leader at Midwestern State, and Sanders is third in school history with 3.5 assists per game.

Sanders has taken the eighth-most field goal attempts in school history with 1,238 and is 19 behind Jason Paty for the seventh on the all-time list.

The high-jumping Sanders is 13th on the all-time list of rebounders at Midwestern State with 581 in his five seasons with the Mustangs, and he is averaging 3.7 rebounds per game this season.

Sanders, who was named to the All-LSC Defensive Team this season, has 52 steals in 29 games, surpassing his previous career high. He has 205 career steals, which is second all-time at MSU. Only James Burkhalter has more with 227 steals in 134 games. Sanders is fourth in school history with 1.6 steals per game, and he is averaging 1.8 steals per game this season.

Shepherd, a 6-8 forward from Dallas, is the third-leading scorer and the second-leading rebounder for the Mustangs. The senior is scoring 9.3 points and grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game.

Shepherd is also shooting 38.8 percent (38-of-98) from 3-point distance and has hit 81.4 percent (35-of-43) of his free throws. Shepherd is shooting 47.1 percent (99-of-210) from the field overall.

Reggie Hill is the fourth-leading rebounder in the conference with 6.8 rebounds per game. The 6-8 senior forward from Melbourne, Florida is averaging seven points per game.

Bakari LaStrap, who missed the first eight games of the season due to injury, scores 8.4 points per game for the Mustangs with 2.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. LaStrap shoots 46 percent from the field (63 of 137) and has hit 48-of-63 free throws (76.2%).

Jackson hits two 3-pointers per game and averages 7.8 points per game for the Mustangs. The 6-4 guard from Sachse, Texas, is 53-of-136 (39 %) from 3-point range.

The Mustangs are second in the LSC and 14th in the nation with a 3-point shooting percentage of 38.5, hitting 9.3 3-pointers per game, which leads the conference. MSU has hit at least 10 3-pointers in 14 games this season.

Midwestern State has an effective field goal percentage of 53.2 percent, which is fourth-best in the LSC. Effective field goal percentage accounts for the added value of three-point shots. MSU attempts the third-most 3-point shots in the LSC with 24.3 attempts per game.

Midwestern State is the seventh-highest scoring team in the LSC with 75.7 points per game while holding opponents to 65.9points, which is the best scoring defense in the league and 17th in the nation. The plus-9.8 scoring margin is fourth-best in the LSC and 24th among NCAA Division II programs.

The Mustangs are ninth in the nation and lead the league with a field goal percentage defense of 39.8 percent, and opponents are only hitting 29.9 percent of their 3-point attempts against the LSC's best 3-point percentage defense, which is ninth best in the nation.

Sanders and Gibson lead the Mustangs with 52 and 39 steals respectively, and MSU is fourth in the league with 8.2 steals per game. Midwestern State is forcing 12.7 turnovers per game while only committing 10.3 turnovers, which is second-fewest in the LSC.

The Mustangs are scoring the fourth-most fast-break points in the LSC with 13.3 per game.

Midwestern State is committing the fewest fouls in the LSC with 14.3 per game, which is the 25th-fewest among NCAA Division II programs.

The Stang Gang is seventh in the conference with 35.8 rebounds per game, and third in the league with 25.9 defensive rebounds per game.

St. Edward's won 10 of their last 13 games, including two losses to top-seeded Dallas Baptist, which defeated the Hilltoppers in the semifinals of the LSC Postseason Tournament, 78-71. The No. 5-seeded team in the regional is 21-12 with a 14-8 conference record.

Gavino Ramos, a 6-2 senior guard from San Antonio, is the leading scorer for St. Edward's with 14.2 points per game, but he is just one of six players scoring in double figures. Ramos scored 16 points against MSU on 5-of-16 shooting in the November matchup.

Ramos is second in the conference with 4.6 assists per game for the Hilltoppers, who average 80.1 points per game, third-most in the LSC. St. Edward's is allowing opponents to score 73.4 points per game., which is 10th-most in the conference.

Lewis Rowe, a 6-10 Australian, is the seventh-leading rebounder in the LSC with 6.2 rebounds per game, and he grabbed nine rebounds against the Mustangs earlier this season.

St. Edward's is 12th in the league with 33.1 rebounds per game, including 10.8 offensive boards per contest, which is 12th in the conference.

The Hilltoppers are the second-most accurate 3-point shooting team in the country, hitting 40.5 percent of their shots from beyond the arc and attempting the sixth most shots from long distance in the conference with 23 attempts. They convert 9.3 of those attempts per game, which is second in the league behind the Mustangs.

St. Edward's is shooting 47.6 percent from the field overall, which is second-best in the LSC, and also boasts the second-best effective field goal percentage at 55.2.

The winner of the game on Saturday advances to the South Central Region semifinals on Sunday night to face either top-seeded Dallas Baptist or No. 8-seeded Regis (Colo.) at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
 

2025 South Central Regional

First Round

Saturday, March 15

(2) Colorado School of Mines (27-4) vs. (7) West Texas A&M (19-11), 12 p.m.
(3) Lubbock Christian (25-8) vs. (6) St. Mary's (19-10), 2:30 p.m.
(1) Dallas Baptist (30-4) vs. (8) Regis (Colo.) (18-13), 5 p.m.
(4) Midwestern State (22-7) vs. (5) St. Edward's (21-12), 7:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Sunday, March 16

CSM/WT winner vs. LCU/StMU winner, 5 p.m.
DBU/RU winner vs. MSU/SEU winner, 7:30 p.m.

Championship

Tuesday, March 18

Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.