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CANYON, Texas – No. 4 and top seed West Texas A&M open NCAA Tournament play on Friday, March 15, when they host eight seed New Mexico Highlands in the quarterfinals of the South Central Regional at the First United Bank Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. with Kent Johnson and Lucas Kinsey on the call at Lonestar 98.7.
 
The Buffs earned the No. 1 seed and right to host the regional after going 31-3 winning the Lone Star Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships. 
 
A LOOK BACK AT TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE
Brandon Hall picked a perfect time to record his first career double-double of the season to lead #4 West Texas A&M to their second consecutive Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship with a 57-55 win over No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The senior, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finished the afternoon with 32 points and 10 rebounds as WT held onto to win their LSC best eighth tournament title. 
 
The Buffs finished the game 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the floor, 7-of-27 (25.9%) from three-point range and 8-of-12 (66.7%) from the free throw line with 37 rebounds, 11 assists, eight steals and three blocks. 
 
A LOOK AT NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
New Mexico Highlands (22-9, 14-8 RMAC) enter the South Central Regional tournament having won six straight games including three straight away from home to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. 
 
The Cowboys have one of the top offensives in the region averaging 86.9 points per contest while shooting 47.3 percent from the floor, 36.8 percent from three-point range and 74.2 percent from the free throw line. They have scored over 100 points six times including a season-high 119 in a win over UC-Colorado Springs on Feb. 1. 
 
The one-two punch of Gerard Davis and Raquan Mitchell combine to score 41.6 points per contest for NMHU. Davis enters the NCAA Tournament with a team-high 20.7 points per contest having reached double figures in all 31 games this season including 18 games with 20 or more points. He dropped a career-high 41 points against Northern New Mexico on Dec. 19. Mitchell has been equally impressive at 19.9 points per game as the Colorado State transfer has scored over 30 points four times including a 40-point effort against Regis. 
 
Craig Snow is in his fifth season as NMHU men's basketball coach and his second year as interim athletic director. This season he has led the Cowboys to their most wins since at least 1974-75 while getting four players named to the RMAC All-Tournament team for the first time in program history. In 2017-18, the Cowboys finished 15-13 where they ranked in the Top 5 in the conference in three-pointers made and attempts.
 
LAST TIME VS. NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
WT defeated New Mexico Highlands 82-55 on December 16, 2016 at the John A. Wilson Complex behind 20 points from Drew Evans. The sophomore was one of four Buffs in double figures as the Buffs outscored the Cowboys by 17 in the second half. 
 
Evans come off the bench to go 7-of-9 from the floor, 2-of-2 from three and 4-of-4 from the free throw line to help WT improved to 12-1. David Chavlovich chipped in 16 points with Jordan Evans (11) and Skyler O'Laughlin (10) also reaching double digits. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 32-2 including seven straight games dating back to 2009. The Buffs are a perfect 16-0 at home including 2-0 under head coach Tom Brown. Friday's contest will be their first meeting in the postseason.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
West Texas A&M is 5-0 all-time at home in NCAA Tournament including a perfect 3-0 under head coach Tom Brown. The Buffs went 2-0 in the 1998 NCAA Division II tournament en route to making the program's first appearance in the Elite Eight. 20 years later, WT defeated Colorado School of Mines, Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Permian Basin en route to making it to the Final Four. 
 
The Buffs are 2-1 against teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference scoring over 100 points in both of the victories including a 105-71 win over Colorado State-Pueblo at the WT Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic. 
 
Joel Murray enters the opening round of the NCAA Tournament with the third-most steals in a single season in program history. The Rowlett, Texas products 63 steals in 34 games are the most by a freshman and four short of passing Michael Crowe (1993-94) for the second-most in program history. He has recorded multiple steals in six of WT's past eight games. 
 
LSC Player of the Year Ryan Quaid enters the week having set career-highs in minutes played, field goals attempted, three-point attempts, steals and scoring average. The senior is scoring a career-high 15.3 points per contest shooting 51.3 percent from the floor, 28.7 from three-point range and 73.3 percent from the free throw line. 
 
How good was Brandon Hall in Sunday's win over Texas A&M-Commerce? The senior became the first player under Tom Brown to record a 30-point, 10 rebound double-double. He made a season-high 11 shots on 17 attempts while going 6-of-8 from beyond the arc while pulling down 10 defensive rebounds. 
 
WT HEAD COACH TOM BROWN
Fifth-year head coach Tom Brown is now the fifth-winningest coach in program history following their win over UT Permian Basin on Feb. 9 at the First United Bank Center. He also ranks second in win percentage (77.0%) as he has guided the Buffs to four consecutive seasons with 20-plus wins. He is also the only coach in WT history to lead the team to a pair of 20 game home win streaks. 
 
QUAID, GRANT AND BROWN EARN SPECIALTY AWARDS
West Texas A&M's Ryan Quaid was named the Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year while Qua Grant was named the Freshman of the Year and Tom Brown was named the Coach of the Year, the league announced at its banquet the night before the conference tournament. 
 
Quaid became the fifth Buff to be named Player of the Year and first since David Chavlovich in 2016 while Grant became the third WT player in five years to be named the top freshman in the conference. Brown was named the Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
 
A LOOK AT THE RANKINGS
The Buffs remained fourth in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top-25 released on Tuesday afternoon behind Northwest Missouri State, Indiana (Pa.) and Nova Southeastern. They moved up to fourth in the D2SIDA rankings after winning their second consecutive LSC Regular Season title.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and video will be provided for Friday's contest against New Mexico Highlands. Links can be found at GoBuffsGo.com under the men's basketball schedule page. Also follow the Buffs on Twitter (@WestTXD2Hoops) for live updates.