LUBBOCK, Texas (February 8, 2020) – This is a press release from Lubbock Christian athletics.

The Lubbock Christian men’s basketball team now has a 33-32 advantage in the all-time series against Eastern New Mexico after beating the Greyhounds 86-65 on Saturday in the Rip Griffin Center.

The 21-point win was the Chaps’ second-largest in Lone Star Conference play this season, behind only the 90-58 win over Western New Mexico on January 20. They are now 14-7 overall with an 11-5 record in LSC play and a 4-4 record within their division.

LCU’s lead came quickly after the game began, with Parker Hicks nailing a three-pointer on their first possession. Jumper from Cameron Copley and Lloyd Daniels followed along with a three-pointer from Ty Caswell, putting the Chaps up by eight at the first media timeout. Aamer Muhammad hit from behind the arc with 11:38 left in the half, getting LCU its first double-digit lead at 10 points.

The Chaps got out to an early lead thanks to a tremendous shooting effort, hitting 15 of their 28 first half shots (53.25 percent) including 8-11 (53.3 percent from behind the arc.

Eastern New Mexico cut the deficit back to single digits one final time with 6:31 left to play in the first half, as Yosnier Cobas hit a layup to put them down only eight. LCU responded with a 7-0 run and was suddenly up by 15 again. The Chaps led by as many as 17, which is what the gap was when the two teams went into the locker room for halftime.

It was a back-and-forth affair for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Lubbock Christian never leading by more than 18 and Eastern New Mexico never closing the gap to fewer than 13. With just under 10 minutes to go, however, the Greyhounds made on final push, using an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to just eight.

Copley and Daniels hit buckets for the Chaps though, and a minute later Copley hit again from behind the arc to restore the double-digit LCU lead. In the final five minutes, Lubbock Christian out-scored Eastern New Mexico 17-6. The lead first reached its widest margin of 21 points on a Hicks three-pointer with 2:55 left to play. They kept it there until the final thanks to free throws by both Caswell and Muhammad as well as a Caswell layup.

Caswell led the team in rebounding once again with eight boards, making him two short of a double-double with his 18 points. He scored five points fewer than the game’s leading scorer, Daniels, who scored 23 on 6-8 shooting. Copley (12), Hicks (12) and Muhammad (11) all finished in double figures as well.

TURNING POINT
Eastern New Mexico’s last chance to come all the way back was with about 10 minutes to go and they did cut the Chap lead to eight points, but they could not continue making stops on the defensive end to completely close the gap.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Reigning Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week Lloyd Daniels once again led the Chaps in scoring with 23 points. It is the 11th time in 21 games that he has led them in scoring and the sixth time he has scored at least 20 points. Daniels is shooting 55.5 percent from the field this year, which is the third-best mark in the LSC.

NEXT UP
Lubbock Christian will be on the road next week, making the long trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they will take on the Lions at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday inside the Stubblefield Center.

This was a press release from Lubbock Christian athletics.