Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M men's basketball find itself in a familiar position once again, hosting a South Central Regional Tournament. The top-seeded Buffs (25-6) open their NCAA tournament with eighth-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville (21-11) on Saturday, March 11 at 5 p.m. inside the First United Bank Center.
 
LIVE COVERAGE 
A live stream and stats will be provided by the WT athletic communications department. Fans will be able to watch all NCAA South Central Regional tournament games free of charge on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network. Live stats will also be provided for fans unable to attend in person.
 
NABC TOP 25 POLL
The Buffs jumped from No. 22 to No. 13 after winning their sixth-consecutive Lone Star Conference Tournament title. Nova Southeastern, the only undefeated team left in Division II, stayed in the top for the fourth week in a row. The top five remained the same with Nova Southeastern, Northwest Missouri State, Indiana (Pa.), Point Loma, and West Liberty making up the top five. Six members of the South Central Region are represented in the national standings with Fort Lewis (7th), WT (13th), Colorado School of Mines (14th), Colorado Mesa (20th), Black Hills State (21st), and Angelo State (23rd).
 
A LOOK AT THE BRACKET
The tournament starts on Saturday as the No. 3 seed Colorado School of Mines taking on the No. 6 seed Black Hills State at noon. In the second quarterfinal, No. 2 Fort Lewis battles No. 7 Lubbock Christian at 2:30 p.m. After a break in the action, the regional bracket sees No. 1 West Texas A&M host No. 8 Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5 p.m. Fourth-seeded Angelo State and fifth-seeded Colorado Mesa battle in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m.
 
The winners of quarterfinals one and two will meet in the first semifinal starting at 5 p.m. on Sunday followed by the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. between the winners of quarterfinals three and four. Tuesday's 7 p.m. regional championship features the winners of both semifinals.
 
SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
Texas A&M-Kingsville saw their Lone Star Conference Tournament run end at the hands of the Angelo State Rams in the semifinals. The Chaps and Javelinas played a tightly contested game, but ASU advanced with a 61-57 victory.
 
Head coach Johnny Estelle is in his ninth season at the helm of Texas A&M-Kingsville's men's program. In his nine seasons in Kingsville, Estelle has accumulated a 137-111 overall record.
 
TAMUK averages 72.9 points per game while their opponents are scoring 65.6 for a 7.3 scoring margin. The Javelinas are shooting 42.3 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from the arc, and 75.9 percent from the free throw line to go along with 32.9 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 7.5 steals, 11.2 turnovers and 2.9 blocks. 
 
Three players average double figure scoring led by C.J. Smith. The 5-foot-9 junior guard from Mansfield, Texas is scoring 11.3 points per contest with a 39.3 shooting percent from the floor, 32.8 from three, and 73.3 percent at the charity stripe to go along with while totaling 86 assists and 37 steals.
 
Isaiah Payne and Jake Majors average 10 points per game each while Kavon Booker leads the Javelinas with 5.4 rebounds per game.  
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 56-26 and 13-3 under head coach Tom Brown, winning the past five matchups. The Buffs and Javelinas have met one time in the NCAA Tournament with WT winning that matchup 76-64 in 2017. The Buffs took the lone meeting this season with the Javelinas, 71-65.
 
W, 71-65 – Kingsville, 2022
W, 77-70 – Frisco (LSC), 2022
W, 87-78 – Canyon, 2022
W, 75-64 – Kingsville, 2020
W, 90-89 (OT) – Canyon, 2019
 
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 235-56 since he took the reins in 2014 for an incredible winning percentage of 80.7%. 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. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
WT pulled off a dramatic win to claim the program's sixth-straight LSC Tournament crown. On his way down the court, Larry Wise put up a three that didn't fall but drew the shooting foul. Wise stepped up and knocked down all three foul shots, bringing the game within one with six seconds to go. The Rams made a crucial mistake inbounding the ball, throwing it out without a touch and turning the ball over to WT. With the Buffs' looking to take the lead, Toussaint tossed the ball in, curled a screen, and calmly knocked down the shot. Larry Wise led WT with 16 points and five rebounds. Damion Thornton recorded a double-double in the win, scoring 10 points and hauling in a game-high 13 rebounds. Julius Brown and Zach Toussaint added in 11 points each while Ryland Holt chipped in 10.WT shot 39.6% (21-of-53) from the field, 30.0% (6-of-20) from deep, 76.2% (16-of-21) from the charity stripe with 29 rebounds, six assists, six steals, three blocks, and 14 turnovers.
 
RECORD WATCH 
Zach Toussaint is moving his way up the ladder in the program's 3-point career leaderboard.  The Johnsburg, Ill., product ranks third all-time with 294 threes after passing former Buff Martin Lattibeaudiere (1993-97).  David Chavlovich (2014-18) is the program's all-time 3-point leader with 388. 
 
Toussaint also moved into ninth in all-time scoring with 1,364 points in the Buffs' loss to Midwestern State on Jan. 28. He became just the 24th 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.
 
Julius Brown reached the 1,000-career point mark during WT's LSC Tournament Semifinal win against Lubbock Christian on March 4. Brown now ranks 24^th in program history with 1, 1014 points.
 
Larry Wise is also closing in on the milestone as he only needs six points to meet the 1,000-point mark.
 
BEVO FRANCIS TOP 50 WATCH LIST
Senior Julius Brown was named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2022-2023 Bevo Francis Award presented to the top player in Small College Basketball, awarded by SmallCollegeBasketball.com. The honor is awarded to a deserving player whose university is affiliated within NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA and NCCAA.
 
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character, and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
 
On March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 1st, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 3rd.
 
ON THIS DAY: MARCH 11
Saturday's game marks only the 10^th time the Buffs have played on March 11, playing on this date in 2018 against Texas A&M-Commerce. In that game, the Lions and Buffs met in the South Central Regional Semifinals where WT won 93-70.
 
W, 93-70 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2018
W, 97-86 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2017
L, 51-66 – Northwest Missouri State, 2006
L, 67-74 – North Alabama, 1994
W, 88-69 – West Liberty, 1952
 
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
A win would place the Buffs in the regional semifinals against the winner of Angelo State and Colorado Mesa at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.  
 
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).