Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M men's basketball looks to extend its streak and claim a sixth-consecutive Lone Star Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon. Standing in the Buffs' way of continuing their run and earning the conference's automatic NCAA tournament bid is the No. 19 Angelo State Rams. Action between WT (24-6) and Angelo State (25-5) is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
LIVE COVERAGE 
A live stream and stats will be provided by the Lone Star Conference.  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
WT moved up three spots to No. 22 in this week's poll. Nova Southeastern, the only undefeated team left in Division II, stayed in the top for the third week in a row. Northwest Missouri State and Indiana (Pa.) held at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Point Loma jumped two spots to occupy the No. 4 spot while West Liberty jumped into the fifth spot. Six members of the South Central Region are represented in the national standings with Fort Lewis (10th), Colorado School of Mines (13th), Colorado Mesa(14th), Black Hills State (16th), Angelo State (19th), and WT (22nd).
 
A LOOK AT THE BRACKET
Three of the four top seeds held after the first day of the conference tournament as WT, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Angelo State, and LCU advanced to Saturday's semifinals. TAMUK survived a scare from the sixth-seeded St. Mary's Rattlers while Angelo State convincingly defeated DBU. No. 5 Lubbock Christian used a great second half to defeat No. 4 St. Edward's to advance. Both semifinal matchups proved to be barn burners as WT defeated rival Lubbock Christian and Angelo State held off a furious Texas A&M-Kingsville comeback.
 
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Angelo State defeated Dallas Baptist 64-43 in the quarterfinals before holding off Texas A&M-Kingsville 61-57 on Saturday night.
 
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 73.2 points per game while their opponents are scoring 65.5 for a 7.7 scoring margin. The Rams are shooting 45.6 percent from the field, 34.2 percent from the arc, and 74.6 percent from the free throw line to go along with 35.4 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 8.4 steals, 13.8 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 17.4 points per contest with a 46.0 shooting percent from the floor and 77.5 percent at the charity stripe to go along with while totaling 72 assists and 38 steals.
 
Reggie Quezada and Fredelin De La Cruz average double digits as well with each player averaging 10.6 points a game. Willie Guy leads the Rams with 83 total assists while Steve Webb leads with 52 steals.
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 53-26, with a 3-0 at a neutral site, and 15-5 under head coach Tom Brown, winning the 15 of the past 17 games. The Buffs and Rams split the regular-season series with each team defending its home court.
 
W, 84-67 – Canyon, 2023
L, 77-82 – San Angelo, 2023
W, 84-76 – Lubbock (NCAA), 2022
W, 83-73 – Frisco (LSC), 2022
L, 79-82 – Canyon, 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 234-56 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
The No. 22-ranked West Texas A&M Buffs used a strong second half to defeat the Chaparrals of Lubbock Christian 76-70 on Saturday night. The Chaps took a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime but timely buckets and stiff defense in the second half allowed the Buffs to gain an advantage. Lubbock Christian brought the game within two at different times down the stretch, putting pressure on WT to close the game out. When the Buffs needed points to slow the Chaps, the top-seeded WT got it and held on for the win. Damion Thornton led WT in scoring with 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and a steal. Two other Buffs reached double digits as Julius Brown scored 17 and Zach Toussaint scored 13. Addison Wallace pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds while scoring six points. WT shot 40.6% (26-of-64) from the field, 42.9% (12-of-28) from deep, 80.0% (12-of-15) from the charity stripe with 34 rebounds, 12 assists, six steals, one block, and five turnovers.
 
RECORD WATCH 
Zach Toussaint is moving his way up the ladder in the program's 3-point career leader board. The Johnsburg, Ill., product ranks third all-time with 291 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 1,353 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 needed 14 points to reach the accomplishment going into the game and walked out with 17, passing James Scott for 24^th on the all-time scoring list.
 
Larry Wise is also closing in on the milestone as he only needs 22 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 5
Sunday's championship marks the 23rd time the Buffs have played on Feb. 4, playing on this date each of the last two years. Both times WT played in the LSC Tournament with the last time with the last non-LSC tournament game coming in 1999 against Abilene Christian in the NCAA tournament.
 
W, 87-55 – Midwestern State, 2022
W, 88-77 – #16 Dallas Baptist, 2021
L, 64-79 – Texas A&M-Commerce, 2015
L, 70-89 – #5 Tarleton State, 2014
L, 63-66 (2OT) – #7 Central Oklahoma, 2010
 
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
The Buffs await their seeding for the NCAA tournament with hosting privileges at stake. The NCAA selection show starts at 10 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).