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CANYON, Texas – For the first time in 76 years, the West Texas A&M Buffs (7-4, 5-0 LSC) will play on New Year's Day as they continue their home portion of the schedule with a league matchup against the Cameron Aggies (2-10, 0-6). Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT following the women's game inside the First United Bank Center on Sunday, Jan. 1. Sunday's game is sponsored by The People's Federal Credit Union.
 
LIVE COVERAGE 
A live stream and stats will be provided by the WT Communications department.  The game will be streamed on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.  Fans will be able to purchase a $10 daily pass that will give them access to all contests on the network that day as well as access to previously aired games from the current season for 24 hours. 
 
Fans can also purchase a $75 basketball season pass that will give them access to all Lone Star Conference basketball games.  In addition to live and archived streaming options, viewers will have the option to purchase and download games from the 2022-23 season for $10 each.
 
NABC TOP 25 POLL
Indiana (Pa.) jumped to No. 1 in the National Association Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 Poll after Northwest Missouri State suffered its first loss of the season to drop out of the Top 5. IUP holds a perfect 10-0 record followed by Nova Southeastern, Black Hills State, Hillside, and Missouri-St. Louis. 
 
Three members of the South Central Region are represented in the national standings with BHSU (3^rd), Colorado School of Mines (8^th), and Fort Lewis (15^th), while UT Tyler and Colorado Mesa are receiving votes. 
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Cameron looks to grab its first league victory as the Aggies come to Canyon with a 2-10 overall record and 0-6 record in conference play with victories over Southwestern Oklahoma State and Rogers State. 
 
Head coach Kevin O'Connor is in his first season at the helm of the program since taking the official reins in March of 2022 following a stop at Murray State College.
 
CU averages 70.7 points per game while their opponents are scoring 78.0. The Aggies are shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 33.9 percent from the arc, and 68.5 percent from the free throw line to go along with 36.4 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 5.6 steals, 17.3 turnovers and 2.5 blocks. 
 
Two players average double figure scoring led by DeSean Munson. The 6-foot-8 junior from Ann Arbor, Mich., guard is scoring 11.6 points per contest with a 56.5 shooting percent from the floor and 50.0 percent at the charity stripe to go along with while totaling 17 assists and seven steals. He brings down 6.5 boards a game while also leading the Aggies defense with team-high 14 blocks.
 
Reggie Prudhomme is the team's second leading scorer at 10.5 points along with a team-high 51 assists (4.3/game) and 15 steals (1.3/game).
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 42-16, with a 23-6 record in Canyon and 14-2 under head coach Tom Brown, winning the last 10 games. The Buffs took the series 2-0 last season with the lone including the Buffs 104-64 home victory, marking the programs 139^th 100-point game.
 
W, 104-64 – Canyon, 2022
W, 85-72 – Lawton, 2022
W, 103-50 – Lawton, 2021
W, 86-82 – Lawton, 2021
W, 105-68 – Canyon, 2020
 
THE BROWN ERA
Head coach Tom Brown is in his ninth season at the helm of Buffalo Basketball, building the program into one of the elite NCAA Division II schools in the nation.  He has guided the Buffs to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments including the Buffs first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship game in 2021. Under Brown, the Buffs are 217-54 since he took the reins in 2014 for an incredible winning percentage of 80.1%.  Brown registered his 200^th career victory on Jan. 31, 2022, after the Buffs defeated St. Edward's, 82-72, to become just the third coach in program history to reach the 200-win plateau. 
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
West Texas A&M jumped to third in the Lone Star Conference overall standings following just Angelo State and S. Edward's. Angelo State leads the West Division after defeating Western New Mexico in the division opener for a 9-2 overall record and 5-0 league record. WT ranks second at 7-4 overall and 5-0 in LSC action followed by Lubbock Christian (8-3, 4-1 LSC), Eastern New Mexico (8-3, 4-1 LSC), Midwestern State (5-7, 2-4 LSC), UT Permian Basin (8-6, 2-3 LSC), WNMU (7-4, 1-4 LSC), and Cameron (2-10, 0-6 LSC). 
 
St. Edward's (11-3, 5-0 LSC) leads the East Division followed by DBU (9-4, 4-1 LSC), Texas A&M-Kingsville (8-5, 2-3 LSC), UAFS (6-6, 2-4 LSC), Oklahoma Christian (5-7, 1-5 LSC), St. Mary's (6-4, 3-2 LSC), UT Tyler (6-3, 2-3 LSC), and Texas A&M International (8-5, 1-4 LSC). 
 
The divisional winners will receive the top two seeds in the tournament. The championships are set to take place March 2-3-4-5, 2023, at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
LAST TIME OUT
WT (7-4, 5-0 LSC) remains undefeated in Lone Star Conference play after the Buffs scrapped past Midwestern State (4-7, 2-4 LSC), 72-71, on Friday night inside the First United Bank Center. WT shot 44.4% (28-of-63), from the field, 34.5% (10-of-29) from the deep and 75% (6-of-8) from the free throw line to go along with 29 rebounds, seven assists, seven steals, eight turnovers, and one block by Wise.
 
Junior Larry Wise led the Buffs offense with 25 points after the 6-foot-4 guard shot 7-of-16 from the field, 5-of-11 from the deep, and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe to go along with four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Senior Julius Brown was the Buffs second-leading scorer with 19 points and a team-high three assists followed by Zach Toussaint with 10 points while Brock Mishak led with five boards.
 
RECORD WATCH 
Zach Toussaint is moving his way up the ladder in the program's 3-point career leaderboard.  The Johnsburg, Ill., product ranks fourth all-time with 246 threes and is 15 away from matching former Buff Martin Lattibeaudiere (1993-97).  David Chavlovich (2014-18) is the program's all-time 3-point leader with 388.  
 
Toussaint also ranks 17^th in all-time scoring with 1,132 points and needs just 95 to crack the Top 10.  He became just the 24^th player in program history to reach 1,000 career point in the Buffs Top 5 matchup against the No. 1 Northwest Missouri State in the 2022-23 season opener. 
 
ON THIS DAY: JAN. 1
Sunday's game marks just the fourth time WT has played on January 1 and first since 1947 against Dakota Wesleyan. The Buffs defeated the Tigers 52-44 to move to 2-1 when playing on New Year's Day. 
 
W, 52-44 – Dakota Wesleyan, 1947
L, 31-33 – Oklahoma Baptist, 1937
W, 33-24 – Baker, 1936  
 
LSC PRESEASON FAVORITE
The Buffs were picked to win their sixth consecutive LSC Tournament title receiving 36 o the 39 first place votes for 619 total points. DBU received 560 points to rank second followed by Lubbock Christian (2-fpv, 489), Midwestern State (460), and St. Edward's (428) closing out the top five. Texas A&M-Kingsville (399) was picked sixth followed by St. Mary's (380), Angelo State (364), UT Tyler (314), UT Permian Basin (1-fpv, 310), UAFS (293), Texas A&M International (246), Western New Mexico (145), Oklahoma Christian (134), Eastern New Mexico (95), and Cameron (68). 
 
PRESEASON POY
Julius Brown, a native of Westerville, Ohio, was named the league Preseason Player of the Year after helping the Buffs to their fifth straight conference title. The D2CCA All-Region selection and LSC Newcomer of the Year averaged 16.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 42.1 percent from the floor, 31.1 percent from 3-point range and 76.8 percent from the free throw line. He scored a season-high 34 in the Buffs 83-73 victory over Angelo State in the conference quarterfinals.
 
THE LONE STAR 
The 2022-23 LSC basketball schedule will feature 16 men's teams in two divisions with each team playing a double round-robin schedule within their division. Additionally, teams will play eight crossover competitions against teams from the opposite division for a total of 22 conference games.
 
The LSC Basketball Championships will feature an 8-team field in 2023 with seeding based on the 22 conference games. The divisional winners will receive the top two seeds in the tournament. The championships are set to take place March 2-3-4-5, 2023, at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
2021-22 REVIEW
The Buffs ended the 2021-22 season 29-7 with the program's sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  WT earned the automatic bid to the tournament after claiming the Lone Star Conference Tournament title for the fifth consecutive year, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville 77-70 in the championship. Julius Brown earned Tournament MVP honors after leading the tournament with 76 points including 34 in the quarterfinals.  Zach Toussaint became the first player to drop 36 points in a single game since 2016 while becoming the 14^th in program history to reach the milestone. 
 
UP NEXT
WT will continue league action as they head to San Angelo, Texas to face Angelo State (9-2, 5-0) at the Junell Center on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. before heading to Odessa to go head-to-head with UT Permian Basin on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. 
 
FOLLOW THE BUFFS
Fans can follow and stay up to date on all the Buff action on online and on social media.  Follow the Buffs on Twitter (@WestTXD2Hoops), Instagram (@WTAMU_MBB), and Facebook (/WTAMUMBB).