PORTALES, New Mexico – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes ended the regular season a high note on Saturday night as a big second half lifted WT to a 82-63 Lone Star Conference win over the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico in front of over 1,200 people at Greyhound Arena in Portales, New Mexico. The Buffs improve to 21-9 (9-5 LSC) with the win while the Hounds fall to 6-20 (2-12 LSC) overall.
 
The first half saw the team struggle from the floor as they went almost three minutes without a point before a Lawrence Domingo layup, the Hounds took as much as an eight point lead with a Javaan Mumtaz long ball before the Buffs stormed back with 10 of the next 12 points highlighted by a Eric Golightly Jr. layup to tie the game at 14-14. The teams traded buckets again as Jordan Evans hit a trey with 4:50 left in the half to give WT the 27-21 lead before ENMU answered with a two long ball of their own to tie the game at 27-27, WT answered with a Joseph Prince three-point play followed by a Jeff Bonner bucket and a pair of Golightly Jr. freebies to send the teams into the break with WT leading 34-27.
 
The Buffs went 13-of-31 (41.9%) from the floor in the first half including 1-of-10 (10%) from deep and 7-of-13 (53.8%) from the charity stripe to go along with 24 total rebounds (three offensive, 21 defensive), 10 fouls, six assists, seven turnovers, two blocks and seven steals. Golightly Jr. and Bonner registered eight points each in the first half followed by Jerrod Walton with five and David Chavlovich with four while Bonner grabbed four rebounds to lead the Buffs.
 
ENMU went 7-of-29 (24.1%) from the floor in the first half including 4-of-11 (36.4%) from lone range and 9-of-13 (69.2%) from the free throw line to go along with 22 rebounds (three offensive, 10 defensive), 12 fouls, five assists, nine turnovers, no blocks and two steals. Domingo went 2-of-7 from the floor including 4-of-7 from the free throw line to lead ENMU at the break with eight points to go along with 10 rebounds.
 
Eastern registered the first bucket of the second half with a Deyton De La Cerda layup before the Buffs answered with an 11-0 run as Chavlovich registered five of the next 11 points with WT running their lead to 45-29. The teams traded buckets again as Evans and Chavlovich hit treys on back-to-back possession to run the WT lead to 55-34, Chavlovich registered another bucket followed by four straight ENMU points before four Jerrod Walton points at 61-38. Eastern answered with eight straight points before Golightly Jr. hit two free throws followed by buckets on both ends and a Chavlovich long ball at 68-50.
 
ENMU answered with a three of their own followed by three Walton points before a Chavlovich offensive board that led to a Bonner three-point play at 79-57, the Hounds wouldn't go down without a fight as they scored four points before Chandler Fuzak answered with a three-point play before an Eastern jumper with seven seconds left to end the scoring as the Buffs took the regular season finale, 82-63.
 
WT went 31-of-62 (50%) from the field including 5-of-18 (27.8%) from deep and 15-of-25 (60%) from the free throw line to go along with 43 rebounds (nine offensive, 34 defensive), 19 fouls, nine assists, 12 turnovers, three blocks and 10 steals. Chavlovich went 9-of-16 from the floor including 3-of-6 from deep to score 22 points followed by Golightly Jr. and Walton with 16 each.
 
Eastern New Mexico went 21-of-57 (36.8%) from the floor including 8-of-19 (42.1%) from long range and 13-of-22 (59.1%) from the charity stripe to go along with 35 rebounds (six offensive, 29 defensive), 25 fouls, 10 assists, 15 turnovers, no blocks and four steals. Domingo went 6-of-15 from the floor and 7-of-11 from the line to lead the Hounds with 19 points to go along with 15 rebound for the double-double.
 
The Buffs claim the fourth seed in the Lone Star Conference Tournament set for next weekend at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas. WT fill face off with fifth seeded Cameron on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. WT finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second place in the LSC with Angelo State and Tarleton State.

2016 LSC Championships
The men's bracket for the Lone Star Conference Basketball Championship March 2-5 in Allen, Texas, was decided Sunday night as the league's basketball teams finished up the regular season. Eight teams have advanced to the LSC Championship Tournament and the postseason begins with first-round games on Wednesday, March 2. Midwestern State won the LSC title with a 10-4 record.  The Mustangs claimed their ninth championship and seventh since 2007.

The second and third seeds were determined by a coin flip after Angelo State and Tarleton State finished the season with identical LSC records and results against conference opponents.  ASU won the coin flip and is the No. 2 seed, while TSU is the No. 3 seed. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster outlets and Ticketmaster.com, as well as the Allen Event Center box office. Single-session tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students.

All seven games will be streamed live free of charge through the LSC's GameCentral portal (http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lonestar).  In addition to supporting desktop and laptop computers, GameCentral's responsive design will support mobile devices as well (iPad, iPhones, Android). The LSC Men's Basketball Tournament Champion earns the league's automatic qualification to the 2016 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Central Regional held March 12, 13, and 15 at a site to be determined. The winner of the South Central Region will advance to the Elite Eight at Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, on March 23, 24 and 26. 

Here's a look at the schedule for next week's men's tournament:
 
LSC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE 
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
SESSION ONE                               
Game 2: Men's Quarterfinal, 2) Angelo State vs. 7) Texas A&M-Kingsville, 2:30 p.m.
SESSION TWO
Game 4: Men's Quarterfinal, 1) Midwestern State vs. 8) Eastern New Mexico, 8:30 p.m.
 
Thursday, March 3, 2016
SESSION THREE
Game 6: Men's Quarterfinal, 3) Tarleton State vs. 6) Texas A&M-Commerce, 2:30 p.m.
SESSION FOUR
Game 8: Men's Quarterfinal, 4) West Texas A&M vs. 5) Cameron, 8:30 p.m.
 
Friday, March 4, 2016
SESSION FIVE
Game 10: Men's Semifinal, Winner G2 vs. Winner G6, 2:30 p.m.
SESSION SIX
Game 12: Men's Semifinal, Winner G4 vs. Winner G8, 8:30 pm
 
Saturday, March 5, 2016
SESSION SEVEN
Game 14: Men's Championship, Winner G10 vs. Winner G12, 5:30 p.m.