LUBBOCK, Texas – West Texas A&M recorded its first loss of the season as the No. 3 Buffs fell to the nationally-ranked ninth Chaps of Lubbock Christian, 73-66, on Thursday night at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock.  The nonconference loss moved the Buffs to 5-1 on the season while LCU improved to 3-0.
 
WT had three players in the double figures led by Larry Wise with 15 along with five rebounds, one block and steal.  Hayden Blankley followed with 14 points while bringing down a team-high nine rebounds while Julius Brown also saw double figure scoring.  
 
The Buffs fell behind early in the first half as Lubbock Christian jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the opening four minutes.   LCU's Parker Hicks lost the ball before Jesse Iweze recovered the steal to find Zach Toussaint for the fast break three-pointer to make it an eight point game, 15-7.  
The Chaps extended their lead out to 16 until Larry Wise shot from the deep at the 5:44 mark to end the run as the Buffs worked to bring the game back within single digits. 
 
Addison Wallace followed through with a free throw after drawing the shooting foul before Wise cut LCU's lead to seven with a pullup jumper.  The Chaps answered with a driving layup by Cameron Copley for LCU to lead 37-28 at the half.  
 
LCU extended their lead back out to double digits before Iweze completed the three-point play to end the run.  Wallace recorded his second basket of the game with a second chance layup after Hayden Blankley brought down the offensive rebound.  The Buffs started ti find their momentum as they strung together an 8-0 run led by six straight points from Blankley to make it a one-point game, 59-58.  The Chaps would string together another successful run to end the Buffs five-game win streak. 
 
WT shot 24-for-74 from the floor (32.4%) while going 9-for-32 (28.1%) from beyond the arc and 9-for-11 (81.8%) from the charity stripe alongside 41 rebounds, four blocks and nine steals. 
 
The Buffs will return to Canyon on Monday, Nov. 22, to host Midwestern State at the First Untied Bank Center with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.