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CANYON, Texas – No. 2 West Texas A&M open the Lone Star Conference Championship on Tuesday, March 2, when they host No. 6 seed UT Permian Basin in the quarterfinals at the First United Bank Center. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
A LOOK AT THE BRACKET
Lubbock Christian earned the No. 1 seed after defeating WT 103-85 on Saturday afternoon and host No. 8 seed St. Edward's. WT and UTPB will face off in the 2-7 matchup with DBU hosting Midwestern State in the 3-6 game. On the other side of the bracket, Texas A&M-Kingsville hosts Angelo State. If WT wins on Thursday, they will host the semifinal and championship in Canyon. 
 
A LOOK AT UT PERMIAN BASIN
UT Permian Basin enters Tuesday's quarterfinal matchup at 8-11 overall having lost five straight games since picking up back-to-back wins over Top 25 opponents in late January. The Falcons are led by Josh Newman, who has led the Falcons to the conference tournament every year since becoming the head coach in 2019. 
 
Jordan Horn is the leading scorer for the Falcons at 19.3 points per contest but has missed the Falcons last three games. The senior is one of the top shooters in the league at 43.1 percent from the floor, 34.0 percent from 3-point range and 90.0 percent from the free throw line. He scored a season-high 32 points in their 96-78 victory over Western New Mexico on Dec. 15, 2020. 
 
Trevon Lamar is playing some of the best basketball of his career at the moment as the senior is averaging 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. In their two games earlier this season, the Savannah, Ga. native averaged 26.5 points and nine rebounds including a 33-pointt, 10-rebound double-double in Canyon.
 
Adam Rivera is racking up the rebounds as he ranks fifth in UTPB program history with 401. The Amarillo kid is averaging 5.2 points and 4.7 points as a senior for the Falcons. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT have won nine straight games in a series that began on Nov. 29, 2002. The Buffs are 15-2 all-time against the Falcons including a perfect 10-0 record at home. 
 
The two teams have met in the LSC Tournament once before, the 2018 final, where David Chavlovich and Jordan Evans combined for 42 points en route to helping the Buffs to a 80-76 victory in Frisco. 
 
LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY
The Buffs enter the LSC Championship looking to become the first team in league history to win the postseason tournament in four consecutive seasons. With their 81-65 comeback win over St. Edward's in 2020, they joined Abilene Christian (1985-87) as the only teams to complete the 3-peat. 
 
WT's nine titles are also the most in LSC history, two more than Midwestern State. Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-Kingsville are the only other active members of the LSC to have won multiple titles.
 
BALLIN' IN THE POSTSEASON
Joel Murray and Qua Grant have won all six LSC Tournament games that they have played during their already illustrious careers. Murray was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player last season after averaging 24.0 points per game including a 21-point performance against SEU in the title game. In six LSC games, the Rowlett native is averaging 16.8 points and five assists per contest. 
 
Grant enters the tournament averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 47.4 percent from the floor, 37.5 percent from three and 67.6 percent from the free throw line. He tied a career-high with 32 points in last year's semifinal victory over Angelo State. 
 
Seventh year head coach Tom Brown is 18-6 all-time in postseason play including a 9-3 record in the league tournament. He hasn't lost a LSC tournament game since March, 2017 against TAMUK in Allen. 
 
MURRAY NAMED LSC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Murray was named the LSC Offensive Player of the Week for a second time this season and third time in his career after averaging 34.5 point per game last week against No. 6 LCU. He shot 56.5 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three and 73.7 percent from 3-point range as the Buffs split with the Chaps
 
In Thursday's 82-78 win in Lubbock, Murray went 11-of-21 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe including three in the final seconds to give him 32 points on the night, tying a career-high. He came back and scored a career-high 37 points on Saturday, the ninth-most in a single game in program history as he made a career-best 15 shots on 25 attempts.
 
CLOSING IN ON BIG AL
Brown enters the championships with 174 wins, two shy of tying Al Baggett for the fourth most in program history. Baggett (1934-42) was 176-64 during his time in Canyon including a trip to the NIT during his final season where they lost by one, 58-57, to Creighton at Madison Square Garden. 
 
BUFFS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
Entering the postseason, WT ranks second in the NCAA Division II men's basketball in turnover margin and third in turnovers forced. They also rank sixth in scoring offense and scoring margin. 
 
Murray ranks seventh in the nation in scoring at 24.0 points per game while ranking 27th in free throws made and 34th in free throw attempts. Grant ranks first in the LSC and 21s in the nation in double-doubles with five. The junior also ranks 25th in defensive rebounds per game. 
 
LET'S LOOK AT THE POLLS
The Buffs are ranked second, the highest ranking in program history, in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25. Northwest Missouri is back at No. 1 following losses from Colorado School of Mines and Northern State. WT moved up two spots to second and is one of four teams from the LSC represented in the Top 25 with LCU at sixth, Texas A&M-Kingsville in 10th and DBU in 18th. 
 
WT also moved up three spots to a tie for seventh in the latest D2SIDA Top 10.
 
BUFFALO CHIPS
With his 22-point performance on Saturday, Grant brought his career scoring total to 1,536 points. That is fourth-most program history and leaves him 31 shy of passing Martin Lattibeaudiere for third. 
 
Murray became the eighth member of the 1,400-point club on Saturday against LCU. He could make a big jump up the record book on Tuesday as the junior is 20 points away from the Top 5. His first five points will get him past Reggie Ramey and 20 points will put him at fifth passing Jordan Evans. 
 
Murray has led the Buffs in assists the past two seasons and is on pace to do it again this year as the Rowlett native is dishing out 4.2 dimes per game. He is also two assists away passing Lionel Foster and entering the Top 5 in the category.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs will advance to Friday's LSC Semifinal with a win over UTPB where they will face off against the winner of MSU and DBU.