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CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M men's basketball returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 17, for Lone Star Conference action with Western New Mexico in Silver City, N.M.  Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT at the Drag's Court.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Western New Mexico enters Thursday game 10-10 overall and 3-7 in conference play after a heartbreaking 68-67 loss to DBU on Saturday. The Mustangs suffered the defeat as the Patriots posted the final field goal with 7-seconds left to grasp the victory.  The loss puts WNMU in 15^th in the current Lone Star Conference Standings.
 
Zane Gibson is in his second season at the helm of the program with an overall 10-21 record. Gibson has turned the program around that finished last years abbreviated season 11-0.  
 
The Mustangs are averaging 75.8 points per game, which is seventh in the league, with a 2.1 scoring advantage over opponents to go along with 34.3 rebounds a game, 12.3 assists, 14.6 turnovers, 7.9 steals and 2.6 blocks.  
 
Jordan Doss leads the offense with 329 total points to average 16.5 ppg this season which ranks sixth in the league.  The senior guard is shooting 46.4 percent from the floor including 41.6 percent from the three and 67.4 percent from the free throw line. 
 
Olamide Pederson has racked up 124 rebounds this season (6.2 rpg) while leading the Mustangs defense with 27 total blocks. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Thursday's game marks the 23^rd meeting between the two schools with WT leading the all-time series 19-4.  In their last meeting, the Buffs extended their win-streak against WNMU out to 11 with a 73-70 non-conference victory earlier this season in Canyon.  WT is 10-0 against the Mustangs under head coach Tom Brown. 
 
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
The initial NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday as the postseason approaches.  Lubbock Christian sits atop the South Central Region rankings at a 15-2 in-region record followed by WT in second at 16-6.  Texas A&M-Commerce ranked third with a 15-5 region record followed by DBU, Black Hills State, Angelo State, Colorado Mesa, UT Tyler, Regis and Fort Lewis. 
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Lubbock Christian leads the league as the program in the LSC with a 22-2 record and 10-2 in conference play.  DBU ranks second in the conference standings (16-8, 9-3 LSC) followed by Texas A&M-Commerce (16-5, 8-3 LSC), St. Mary's (11-10, 8-4 LSC), and WT (22-6, 8-5).
 
MR. 1,000
Julius Brown joined the 1,000^th-point club on Tuesday night during the Buffs 104-44 victory against Cameron.  Brown, who scored 669 points at Lincoln Memorial, led the way offensively with 18 points as he collected his 333^rd point in the Maroon & White to combine for 1,002 points in his collegiate career.
 
CLIMBIN' THE LADDER
Zach Toussaint collected a career-high seven 3-pointers against Midwestern State to bring his career total to 197. WT All-American David Chavlovich (2014-18) set the all-time career record with 388 threes to the set the program standard.  
 
A LOOK BACK AT CAMERON
WT collected its second 100-point game as the Buffs defeated Cameron, 104-64, on Tuesday night in LSC crossover action. Four Buffs reached double figures led by Julius Brown with 18. 
 
The Buffs finished the night going 41-of-72 (56.9%) from the floor including 12-of-31 (38.7%) from deep and 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 35 rebounds, 18 assists, nine turnovers, 12 steals, three turnovers and three blocks.
 
Cameron was led by Connor Slater who went 7-of-15 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line for 18 points. The Aggies finished the game going 23-of-50 (46.0%) from the field including 3-of-16 (18.8%) from behind the arc and 15-of-19 (78.9%) from the charity stripe with 27 rebounds, five assists, 24 turnovers, one blocks and three steals.
 
A LOOK INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Buffs have a conference-leading 81.9 scoring average while limiting opponents to 68.1 points a game.  WT is shooting 43.9 percent from the field including 33.1 percent from the deep and 73.2 percent at the free throw line to go along with 39.9 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 10.3 turnovers, 8.0 steals and 3.4 blocks. 
 
Zach Toussaint is leading the Buffs offense as the Johnsburg, Ill. product averages 15.1 ppg with 139 field goals including 74 shots from the deep which is the third most in the LSC.  The sophomore has recorded eight 20-point plus games including a career-high 36 against Midwestern State. 


Waxahachie, Texas product Larry Wise has started all 28 games for the Buffs, averaging 15.0 ppg with six 20-point games along with 4.5 rebounds.  Julius Brown also averages double-figures at 14.0 while dishing out a team-high 81 assists and 47 steals. 
 
Kavon Booker has brought down 180 rebounds this season (6.4 rpg) to lead the Buffs with 58 of those coming on offense along with a team-high 26 blocks. 
 
WT HEAD COACH TOM BROWN
Head coach Tom Brown is in his eighth season at the helm of the Buffs, registering an overall record of 203-49 (.805). Brown earned his 200^th career victory on Monday afternoon with the Buffs victory against St. Edward's, becoming just the third coach in program history to reach the milestone.  
 
He's made 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.
 
LSC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Lone Star Conference Championship will take place on March 1-6 with the top 12 teams will qualify for the postseason tournament with the first-round games played on-campus and the remaining eight games in Frisco, Texas at the Comerica Center. 
 
The NCAA South Central Regional Championships are set for March 12-15 followed by the NCAA Elite Eight at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. 
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and broadcasts will be provided by the Western New Mexico athletic communications department with the 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 return to action for the final two games of the regular season next week when they host Texas A&M-Kingsville (Feb. 24) and Texas A&M International (Feb. 26).