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EVANSVILLE, Ind. - No. 5 West Texas A&M will play in its first NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Game on Saturday, March 27, against No. 4 Northwest Missouri State at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. Tip is scheduled for 11 a.m.
 
Saturday's game will be broadcast on CBS. Stats can be found on the men's schedule page on GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
BUZZER BEATERS SENDS BUFFS TO 'SHIP
Zach Toussaint hit his only 3-pointer game at the buzzer as WT overcame a 16-point first half deficit to defeat No. 13 Lincoln Memorial 87-86 and punch their ticket to their first NCAA Championship. 
 
Qua Grant scored a game-high 25 points as the junior All-American went 10-of-22 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free throw line while pulling down six rebounds. Joel Murray had 24 points, 10 of those coming from the free throw line, to go along with three assists and two steals. Jon'il Fugett scored all 14 of his points in the second half as the Buffs shot 42.3 percent from the floor, 34.6 percent from beyond the arc and 78.3 percent from the free throw line. 
 
A LOOK AT NO. 4 NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE
No. 4 Northwest Missouri State looks win to their second consecutive NCAA DII men's basketball championship on Saturday after defeating No. 8 Flagler 77-46 on Thursday. The Bearcats are 96-3 over the past three seasons.
 
Northwest is led by 12th year head coach Ben McCollum, who is looking for his 300th career victory. The has compiled a record of 299-78 during his tenure in Maryville, Mo. 
 
Much like Buffs, Northwest has two players scoring over 20 points per game in Trevor Hudgins and Ryan Hawkins. Hudgins, the D2CCA and NABC Player of the Year, is averaging a career-best 20.0 points per game while shooting a nation's best 51.4 percent from 3-point range. He has scored in double figures in all 29 games this season including a season-high 31 against Emporia State and Missouri Southern. 
 
Hawkins, a senior from Atlantic, Iowa, enters the championship game averaging a team-best 22.3 points per game. He is the Bearcats all-time leader in rebounds with 930 rebounds and ranks second in scoring. He scored 32 points on 11-of-14 shooting against West Liberty in the Elite Eight. 
 
Diego Bernard can fly. The St. Joseph, Mo. native was named the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 1.5 steals per game. He also contributes on the offensive end as he is averaging 11.9 points per game. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT is 2-1 all-time against the Bearcats including a 1-1 record at neutral sites. Saturday will mark the second time they have met in the postseason as Northwest won 66-51 on March 11, 2006 in Bolivar, Mo.
 
THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER
Hayden Blankley came up huge for the Buffs in their victory as the sophomore from Sydney, Australia scored 15 points connecting on 5-of-6 3-pointers. It marked the 8th time in his career that he reached double figures. He also pulled down a team-high six rebounds. 
 
COMEBACK KIDS
Thursday's win marked the first time since the Lone Star Conference Championship Game on March 8, 2020 that the Buffs overcame a halftime deficit to win. WT outscored St. Edward's 56-27 in the second half to win their third straight conference title. 
 
WE ARE WITNESSING SOMETHING SPECIAL
With his 25-point performance against LMU, Grant is now within striking distance of moving up to second on the all-time scoring list. David Chavlovich's record of 2,520 is safe at least until next year but the Waxahachie native is 29 points away from passing former All-American Ryan Quaid into second.
 
Murray also joined the 1,600-point club with his 24 points on Thursday evening. The Rowlett native now ranks in the Top 5 in program history in points, assists and steals. 
 
LOOKING TO MAKE THE CONFERENCE PROUD
The Buffs are just the second team in Lone Star Conference history to reach the NCAA DII Championship Game. Northeastern State, now a member of the MIAA, achieved the feat in 2003 where they defeated Kentucky Wesleyan 75-64 in the title game. 
 
WT's three wins at the elite Eight are also tied for the most in LSC history with NSU.
 
EMBRACING MARCH MADNESS
The Buffs improved to 13-3 all-time in NCAA DII Tournament play under Brown with their come-from-behind victory over LMU on Thursday evening. Brown's 13 wins are eight more than WT had before he was hired as head coach after the conclusion of the 2013-14 season. 
 
Thursday's game also marked just the third time that the Buffs margin of victory was in single digits under the seventh-year head coach. 
 
LOOKING TO END THE STREAK
Not only are the Buffs going up against the defending National Champions on Saturday but they are facing a team that has won 42 straight games on neutral courts, the longest such streak in any level of NCAA men's basketball.
 
BUFFALO CHIPS
Grant and Murray were both named D2CCA All-Americans this week. Grant was one of three players to be named to the First Team for the second consecutive year while Murray was named to the Second Team after leading the LSC in scoring. 
 
With his three assists on Thursday, Murray moved up to third on the all-time assist list passing Michael Hamelin. The junior now only trails Chavlovich and Terry Adolph, who dished out 520 assists in his two years in Canyon after transferring from the University of Portland. 
 
Grant is four 3-pointers away from passing former teammate Jordan Collins into sixth on the all-time list. Grant, who made a career-high seven 3-pointers in the South Central Regional Final against No. 10 Lubbock Christian, is 166-of-459 from beyond the arc during his career.