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CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M men's basketball faces UAFS in the Lone Star Conference opener on Friday, Dec. 31 as the No. 3 Buffs will take on Lions at the Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith, Ark.  Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS
UAFS enters conference play 6-5 with the Lions coming off a 68-65 loss against Texas A&M-Commerce in a nonconference matchup.  They dropped a pair of games to open the season before collecting a four-game win streak with victories of the Ozark, Henderson State, Harding, and Southwestern Christian.  
 
The Lions post a 75.4 scoring average while opponents score 62.1 which ranks fourth in the LSC.  UAFS is shooting 47.4 percent (305-of-643) from the field, 37.2 percent (77-of-207) from the deep, and 70 percent (142-of-203) at the free throw line to go along with 35.9 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 7.4 steals and 2.5 blocks. 
 
Matthew Wilson, the LSC's leading scorer, averages 21.9 ppg with a conference high 90 field goals including 43 shots from the deep.  The senior from Farmington, Ark. has recorded six 20-point plus games while putting up 30 points against Harding where the Lions won 80-61.
 
Jim Boone is in his third season as the head coach at UAFS with a 24-32 (.429) overall record with the Lions following a seven-year stint at Delta State.  During his 36 seasons as a head coach, Boone has won over 500 games in his career including stops at West Virginia Wesleyan, California (Pa.), Robert Morris, Eastern Michigan, and Tusculum. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Friday's contest with be the third meeting between the two programs and first in Fort Smith with the Buffs leading the series, 2-0.  In their first meeting back in 2016, WT won 94-86 at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic in California before defeating the Lions again in 2019, 84-56.
 
LAST TIME OUT
WT collected a pair of wins at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic over Montana State Billings and Lindenwood to move to 13-1 on the season.  Against MSUB, the Buffs came back from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Yellowjackets 59-57 with the help ofZach Toussaint's buzzer beating floater. The Buffs turned around in the second game of the tournament using a 29-4 run in the first half to defeat Lindenwood, 88-59.
 
LATEST BUFF MILESTONES
Kavon Booker set a new career-high with 17 points against Lindenwood as the Schertz, Texas product made 11-of-13 free throws against the Lions which is the most by any Buff this season.  
 
CLIMBIN' THE LADDER
With his six shots from the deep in Las Vegas, Zach Toussaint moved to eighth in the men's basketball all-time three-pointer leaderboard with the sophomore producing 157 in this three-year career at WT.  Former Buff David Chavlovich (201-18) set the all-time career record with 388 threes to the set the program standard.  
 
A LOOK INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Buffs have a scoring average of 79.9 while limiting opponents to 62.8 for a 17.1 scoring margin as with WT shooting 42.2 percent from the floor including 33.1 percent from the three and 76.2 percent from the charity stripe.  WT averages 41.8 rebounds per game alongside 11.6 assists, 7.7 steals, and 3.9 blocks.  The Buffs force 15.1 turnovers per game, scoring 15.6 points off of their opponents' turnovers. 
 
Sophomores Larry Wise and Zach Toussaint lead WT's offense, combining for 403 points with Wise averaging 14.5 points per game and Toussaint at 14.3.  Julius Brown follows the duo at 12.2 ppg with a team-high 29 assists and 21 steals. 
 
Kavon Booker has brought down a team-high 82 rebounds, averaging 5.9 per game followed by Hayden Blankley with 81 (5.8 rpg).  Booker and newcomer Dalin Williams have each denied 14 shots, averaging one block a game. 
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
Lubbock Christian leads the Lone Star Conference and Division II with a perfect 12-0 overall record.  WT ranks second in the standings followed by UT Tyler (8-1), Texas A&M-Commerce (8-1) and Angelo State (9-2) to round out the top five.  UTT ranks first in the conference in scoring average (83.0) and scoring margin (21.7) while LCU limits opponents to 59.2 ppg. 
 
WT HEAD COACH TOM BROWN
With a pair of victories in Las Vegas, Nev., head coach Tom Brown is six games from reaching his 200^th career victory milestone. Brown is in his eighth season at the helm of the Buffs, registering an overall record of 194-44 (.811) with four NCAA Tournament Appearances including the programs first appearance in the National Championship game last season.  The two-time LSC Coach of the Year led the Buffs to their fourth consecutive conference tournament championship title.
 
NABC TOP 25 POLL
WT was one of two members from the Lone Star Conference represented in the rankings as the Buffs stand third in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25.  Lubbock Christian remained atop the national standings for the fifth consecutive week at 12-0 overall with 13-of-16 possible first-place votes followed by Northwest Missouri State (11-1; 3-fpv), WT (13-1), Nova Southeastern (10-0) and Chico State (9-0) to round out the top five.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and broadcasts will be provided by the UAFS athletic communications department with the non-conference game aired on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.  Broadcasts to all games and live stats can be found at GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
The LSC Digital Network will offer basketball season passes, giving fans access to all regular-season contests for that sport. In addition, viewers will continue to have the option to purchase a $10 day pass that provides access to all broadcasts aired that day and access to all archived content for 24 hours.  
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs will continue their road journey as they face the Oklahoma Christian Eagles on Jan. 2 at the Payne Athletic Center in Oklahoma City.  The Lions are coming off a 77-54 loss to UT Tyler to head into Lone Star Conference play 3-7 overall.