Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M meets a familiar foe in the South Central Regional Semifinals on Sunday, taking on the Rams of Angelo State once again. The meeting will be the fourth time this season the Buffs and Rams have matched up and second in the past week.
 
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
Saturday's action saw all but one top seed make it to the second round. The day started with No. 6-seeded Black Hills State taking down No. 3 Colorado School of Mines. No. 2 seed Fort Lewis cruised past No. 7 Lubbock Christian in the day's second quarterfinal. No. 1 WT started slower than intended but defeated No. 8 Texas A&M-Kingsville. In the final game of the day, No. 4 Angelo State held off No. 5 Colorado Mesa.  
 
Both semifinal winners meet on Tuesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. for a chance at the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind.
 
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Angelo State advanced to Sunday's semifinals with a 72-57 victory over Colorado Mesa. The win improved the Rams' record to 26-6 overall.
 
Head coach Vinay Patel is in his first season at the helm of Angelo State's men's program. Patel is no stranger to the LSC as he started his coaching career at WT as a graduate assistant in 2005 before working his way up to associate head coach in 2013. In eight seasons on staff, Patel helped lead the Buffs to a 164-93 record and five NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.
 
ASU averages 72.8 points per game while their opponents are scoring 65.2 for a 7.6 scoring margin. The Rams are shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 34.5 percent from the arc, and 75.5 percent from the free throw line to go along with 35.4 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 8.3 steals, 14.1 turnovers and 1.8 blocks.
 
Three players average double figure scoring led by Kevon Godwin. The 6-foot-2 junior guard from Blountstown, Fla. is scoring 16.9 points per contest with a 45.7 shooting percent from the floor, 40.0 percent from three, and 77.5 percent at the charity stripe to go along with while totaling 72 assists and 39 steals.
 
Reggie Quezada and Fredelin De La Cruz average double digits as well with Quezada averaging 10.6 points and De La Cruz averaging 10.3. Willie Guy leads the Rams with 90 total assists while Steve Webb leads with 52 steals.

THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 54-26, with a 32-6 record in Canyon, and 16-5 under head coach Tom Brown, winning the 16 of the past 18 games. The Buffs and Rams split the regular-season series with each team defending its home court before WT claimed the Lone Star Conference Championship 64-63 on Zach Toussaint's go-ahead shot with less than three seconds in regulation.
 
W, 64-63 – Frisco (LSC), 2023
W, 84-67 – Canyon, 2023
L, 77-82 – San Angelo, 2023
W, 84-76 – Lubbock (NCAA), 2022
W, 83-73 – Frisco (LSC), 2022

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 236-56 since he took the reins in 2014 for an incredible winning percentage of 80.8%. 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
Texas A&M-Kingsville took an early lead before WT found its offensive rhythm. The Buffs continued to find hot streaks on attack while holding the Javelinas quiet. In the second half, WT remained in control with a 20-point lead for a large portion of the period. With less than a minute to play, Ahamad Mohammed made a layup to finish off the scoring and send the Buffs into the next round. Julius Brown led WT with 15 points as the senior guard went 6-of-14 from the floor including 3-of-6 from behind the arc to go along with two rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Zach Toussaint chipped in 14 points as he connected four times from deep followed by Damion Thornton (12), Addison Wallace (12), Larry Wise (10) and Ryland Holt (10). WT shot 44.4% (28-of-63) from the field, 44.1% (15-of-34) from deep, 63.6% (7-of-11) from the charity stripe with 41 rebounds, 16 assists, seven steals, one block, and 11 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 298 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 1,378 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 1,029 points. Larry Wise (1,004) also achieved the milestone in the Buffs' South Central Regional quarterfinal win over Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
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 12
Sunday's game marks only the ninth time the Buffs have played on March 12, playing on this date last year against Angelo State in the South Central Regional tournament in Lubbock. In that game, the Buffs defeated the Rams 84-76 to advance to the semifinal round.
 
W, 84-76 – Angelo State, 2022
W, 76-64 – Texas A&M-Kingsville, 2017
L, 49-75 – #13 Fort Hays State, 2011
L, 74-79 – #20 Central Missouri, 1994
L, 73-75 (OT) – Murray State, 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 championship against the winner of Black Hills State and Fort Lewis at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.  
 
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