FRISCO, Texas -- No. 25-ranked Midwestern State is the No. 3 seed in the 2025 Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Championship and faces No. 6-seed West Texas A&M for the third time this season in the quarterfinals of the postseason tournament. Tipoff at Comerica Center on Friday is scheduled for noon.

Midwestern State enjoyed its first 20-win season since the 2015-16 campaign. The Mustangs finished the regular season with a 22-6 record and went 17-5 in conference play.

Midwestern State closed out the regular season by winning 11 of its final 13 games and had an eight-game winning streak snapped with a 74-57 loss at Lubbock Christian in the regular season finale on Saturday.

This week, the Mustangs made their first appearance in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll since being ranked No. 20 in the 2016 preseason poll. Midwestern State had been receiving votes since Dec. 3.

The Mustangs won both regular season meetings with the Buffaloes, including a 63-58 victory at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Feb. 1.

Will Shepherd closed out the game by nailing a 3-pointer, blocking a shot and hitting two free throws in the final minute. Shepherd broke a 56-56 tie with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 51 seconds remaining and denied Narit Chotikavanic a drive to the basket with 11 seconds remaining before icing the victory with a pair of free throws.

Mason Gibson was the leading scorer for the Mustangs with 18 points, and Pierre Sanders finished with 12 to lead the Mustangs offensive attack. Gibson also led the team with three steals, and Sanders finished with two takeaways.

Reggie Hill matched a career high with 14 rebounds and had two steals for the Mustangs, who finished with nine steals and forced 12 turnovers.

Midwestern State's defense held West Texas A&M to only 17.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc (6-of-35) and 32.2 percent from the field (19-of-59).

The victory enabled the Mustangs to sweep the regular season series for the first time in nine seasons.

When the two teams clashed in Canyon on Jan. 3, Sanders hit a pair of tough baskets in the final minute to lead Midwestern State to a 70-69 win. West Texas A&M jumped out to a 20-7 lead at the 12:20 mark of the first half and took an eight-point lead into halftime.

Sanders scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, including eight points over the last 2 1/2 minutes.

The Hutto, Texas, native buried a triple from straight away to knot the game at 63-63 with 2:35 to go, then pushed the Mustangs in front with a driving layup with 48 seconds remaining.

West Texas A&M's Nicholas Jett answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Buffs a 69-68 edge just eight seconds later.

Sanders added the game winner on his patented turnaround-around jumper with 10 seconds remaining, then made a steal on a crucial in-bound pass with four seconds left to seal the victory.

Midwestern State claimed its first win in Canyon since a 74-65 victory on January 6, 2016, and the Mustangs snapped a seven-game slide at First United Bank Center.

The Buffaloes were ranked No. 13 in the nation at the time, and the victory was MSU's first road win against a team ranked in the NABC Top 25 since taking down No. 10-ranked Tarleton State, 78-76, on January 14, 2015.

Sanders, Gibson and Shepherd received LSC postseason honors.

Sanders and Gibson were named to the All-Lone Star Conference First Team, and Shepherd received honorable mention. Sanders was also selected for the All-Defensive Team.

Sanders is in his fifth season at Midwestern State and receives All-Lone Star Conference honors for the fourth time during his career. Sanders earned honorable mention in 2021-22 and was selected to the third-team in 2022-23. Last year, the 5-10 guard from Hutto, Texas, was named second-team All-Conference.

Sanders finished the regular season averaging 12.3 points and 3.9 assists per game. He shot 50 percent from the field overall (131-of-262), 41.9 percent from 3-point range (36-of-86) and 85.2 percent from the free-throw line (46-of-54).

Sanders played in all 28 regular season games for the third consecutive season and averaged 29.2 minutes per game. Sanders started in 109 of 129 games as a Mustang, including every game of the last three seasons, and he averaged 30.1 minutes per game. No one has played more minutes for Midwestern State than the 3,882 logged by Sanders.

Sanders enters the postseason as the 10th all-time leading scorer at Midwestern State with 1,567 points, and he is just four points behind O'Neal Weaver for ninth place. Sanders is 11th all-time with 568 made field goals, just three fewer than Ricky Cobb.

Sanders needs just 10 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 ninth-most field goal attempts in school history with 1,224 and is just six behind Gary Blount.

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 3.8 rebounds per game this season.

Sanders, who was named to the All-Defensive Team this season, has 50 steals in 28 games, matching a career high. He has 203 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.

Gibson finished the regular season as the fourth leading scorer in the conference with 17 points per game.

The 6-0 junior from Allen, Texas, scored double figure in 24 of 27 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 75.6 percent (91-of-120) of his free throws this season. He is shooting 48.3 percent from the field (160-of-331) and 44.5 percent from 3-point range (49-of-110).

Gibson is also averaging 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game for the Mustangs.

Shepherd, who was Gibson's roommate at Oakland before both players transferred to Midwestern State, is scoring 9.5 points per game and is the Mustangs second-leading rebounder with 5.1 boards per game.

The 6-8 forward from Dallas is also shooting 39.6 percent (38-of-96) from 3-point distance and has hit 79.5 percent (31-of-39) of his free throws. Shepherd is shooting 47.6 percent (99-of-208) from the field overall.

Reggie Hill is the fourth-leading rebounder in the conference with 6.6 rebounds per game. The 6-8 senior forward from Melbourne, Florida is averaging 6.9 points per game.

Bakari LaStrap, who missed the first eight games of the season due to injury, scores 7.9 points per game for the Mustangs with 2.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game. LaStrap shoots 42.7 percent from the field (50 of 117) and has hit 41-of-51 free throws (80.4%).

Jonathan Jackson hits 2.1 3-pointers per game and averages eight points per game for the Mustangs. The 6-4 guard from Sachse, Texas, is 43-of-117 (36.8 %) from 3-point range.

The Mustangs are second in the LSC and eighth in the nation with a 3-point shooting percentage of 39.2, hitting 9.5 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 53.8 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 sixth-highest scoring team in the LSC with 76.4 points per game while holding opponents to 65.8 points, which is the second-best scoring defense in the league and 16th in the nation. The plus-10.6 scoring margin is fourth-best in the LSC and 22nd among NCAA Division II programs.

The Mustangs are 11th in the nation and lead the league with a field goal percentage defense of 40 percent, and opponents are only hitting 30 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 50 and 38 steals respectively, and MSU is fourth in the league with 8.4 steals per game. Midwestern State is forcing 12.8 turnovers per game while only committing 10.4 turnovers, which is second-fewest in the LSC.

The Mustangs are scoring the fourth-most fast-break points in the LSC with 13.5 per game.

Midwestern State is committing the fewest fouls in the LSC with 14.1 per game, which is the 22nd-fewest among NCAA Division II programs.

The Stang Gang is seventh in the conference with 35.7 rebounds per game, and third in the league with 25.7 defensive rebounds per game.

Midwestern State is making its first appearance in the LSC postseason tournament since reaching the semifinals as a No. 6-seed in 2022.

West Texas A&M defeated the Mustangs, 87-55, as Sanders scored 13 points and finished with three 3-pointers to wrap up his sophomore campaign.

The Buffaloes lead the all-time series with MSU, 47-36, and the Mustangs have won only two of the five meetings in the month of March.

West Texas A&M is 18-10 this season with a 13-9 record in conference play. The Buffaloes won four of their last five games, including a 95-90 double-overtime victory against Eastern New Mexico in their regular season finale on Feb. 27.

Ahamed Mohammed scored 39 points on 11-of-26 shooting from the field, and he was 15-of-17 at the free-throw line. Mohammed, who missed four games this season, leads the conference with 18.7 points per game. He also leads the team with three assists per game.

Noah Pagotto is the leading rebounder for WT with 6.1 boards per game, and Jailyn Sledge is pulling down six rebounds a game. Mohammed is corralling 4.9 caroms per game for the Buffaloes, who are fourth in the league with 37.8 rebounds per game.

The Buffaloes are the fifth-highest scoring team in the conference with 78.5 points per game, and they are conceding 70.7 points per game.

West Texas A&M has won the LSC Postseason Tournament 12 times in its history and made 17 appearances in the final, most recently in 2023, when the Buffaloes edged Angelo State, 64-63, for its sixth consecutive title.

Midwestern State has cut the nets at the conference tournament seven times and made nine appearances in the final — but not since defeating Angelo State, 88-72, in 2016.