Five Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball teams completed undefeated weeks, while No. 1 Lubbock Christian continued its perfect start. Fourth-ranked West Texas A&M, Angelo State, UT Permian Basin and Texas A&M-Kingsville also went unbeaten in week six.
LSC men’s basketball teams are 112-52 overall and 20-12 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the other conference in the South Central Region.
LSC schedule and results are available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=mbball
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Lloyd Daniels, Lubbock Christian, SR, Sport Management, G, Colts Neck, N.J., Colts Neck HS
Daniels led the Chaps to three straight wins during the week, putting them at 12-0 heading into the Christmas break. He averaged 22.0 points and 5.6 assists per game as LCU took down Cameron at home before beating Rollins and Western Washington at the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas. The New Jersey native was efficient from the floor, hitting 59.5 percent of his shots, including a scorching 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from behind the arc. He set a new season-high in points with 22 against Cameron and then broke it by scoring 25 against the Vikings.
DEFENSIVE
Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian, SR, Masters of Secondary Education, F, Decatur, Texas, Decatur, HS
Hicks anchored an LCU defense that limited opponents to 41.0 percent shooting and 64.7 points per game on the week as the Chaps won three times, including a pair of wins at the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas. In addition, the senior led the team in rebounding with 7.7 per game, 20 of which came on the defensive glass. Hicks also led the way with four blocks and five steals during the week and posted a pair of double-doubles, collecting his fifth and sixth of the season in wins over Cameron and Rollins.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
N-15 Devaughn Thomas, Angelo State
N-22 Matthew Wilson, UAFS
N-29 Zach Toussaint, West Texas A&M
D-6 Larry Wise, West Texas A&M
D-13 DaJuan Jones, UT Permian Basin
D-21 Lloyd Daniels, Lubbock Christian
Defensive
N-15 Kavon Booker, West Texas A&M
N-22 Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian
N-29 Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian (2)
D-6 Kavon Booker, West Texas A&M (2)
D-13 Clashon Gaffney, Texas A&M-Commerce
D-21 Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian (3)
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Daniel Venzant, St. Edward’s, was the offensive catalyst for the Hilltoppers at home leading SEU to a 1-1 week. He led the team in scoring, averaging 31.5 points per game, while also leading in assists with nine and steals with four. Venzant poured in a career-high 38 points in a narrow loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor and a perfect 13-of-13 from the charity stripe. The 38 points were the most scored by an LSC player this season.
DaJuan Jones, UT Permian Basin, picked up two more double-doubles on the season and pushed his nation-leading assist total to 96 over the weekend. He went for 17 points and 10 assists on Friday as the Falcons shot .575 as a team. On Saturday, he had a season-high 22 points and 11 assists as the Falcons scored 126 points, the most points in regulation in program history.
Austin Garner, DBU, scored a career-high 23 points in the Patriots' 84-54 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday. Garner shot a blistering 78 percent from the field, connecting on 7-of-9 shots, including 6-of-8 from three-point range while also going a perfect 3-of-3 at the free-throw line.
Jermaine Drewey, Texas A&M International, had a fantastic week for the Dustdevils to close out the pre-Christmas schedule. In Thursday's three-point double-overtime loss to St. Edward’s, Drewey scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting with a rebound, assist and a steal. Drewey followed that performance in Saturday's 78-67 victory over St. Mary's, scoring a game-high 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor, including 5-for-8 from three. He also collected four rebounds and a steal, helping the Dustdevils outscore the Rattlers 33-13 over the final 9:04 to take the victory.
Zach Toussaint, West Texas A&M, drained the game-winning floater at the buzzer in the Buffs 59-57 victory over Montana State-Billings at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic to help WT to a 3-0 week.
The Johnsburg, Ill. product scored 34 points with eight rebounds, three assists, and a steal. He was the leading scorer for WT with a game-high 16 points against MSUB, going 6-for-15 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers and free throws.
Micah Fuller, UT Tyler, went for 18 on Thursday night and 15 on Saturday afternoon for the Patriots. Fuller was 8-of-19 from the field between the two games and a perfect 13-for-13 from the three-point line. He connected on 40 percent (4-of-10) of his three-point shots and has now scored in double-digit scoring figures in all but one game so far for the 8-1 Patriots.
Alphonso Willis, Texas A&M-Commerce, powered the Lions to second-half comeback wins over LSC teams this week. He scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds on eight for 13 shooting at Midwestern State on Tuesday and scored 12 points against UAFS. He also reached double-digit in scoring against Seattle Pacific. He is seventh in the LSC with a rebounding average of 6.7 and top-30 in scoring.
Derek Luna, Texas A&M-Kingsville, led the Javelinas in scoring and shot 50 percent from the floor during a week in which TAMUK went on the road and won twice. On Saturday against St. Edward's, Luna shot 6-of-10 and piled up 17 points in an 88-82 win in Austin. Two days later at St. Mary's, he added another 12 points, led the Hogs with four assists and swiped a pair of steals in a 78-66 victory. For the week, Luna averaged 14.5 points per game while shooting 10-of-20 overall and 6-of-11 on threes.
Dante Moses, Angelo State, led the Rams to two victories, defeating St. Mary's on Monday and Arlington Baptist on Saturday. Moses collected a career-high 20 points against the Patriots while shooting 64 percent from the field over those two games. He also led the Rams in rebounds with 8.5 per game.
C.J. Smith, Texas A&M-Kingsville, helped lead a Javelina defense that proved to be stout in pair of road victories last week. The Hogs held their two opponents to 41 percent shooting from the field and forced 30 turnovers. On Saturday at St. Edward's, Smith registered 17 points, passed out four assists and snatched four steals as the Javs triumphed, 88-82. On Saturday in San Antonio, Smith added another nine points and two more steals while the Javs held St. Mary's to 39 percent shooting in a 78-66 win. Smith averaged 13.0 points per game for the week and collected six steals with five assists.
Clashon Gaffney, Texas A&M-Commerce, recorded nine blocks this past week in two of three wins for the Lions. He had four blocks in the loss against Seattle Pacific and four in the win over UAFS. He leads the country with a blocking average of 4.0. Gaffney and the Lions held Midwestern State to shoot 28.1 percent from the field and 17.5 percent in the second half.
Hayden Blankley, West Texas A&M, brought down 21 rebounds for a Buffs defense that limited opponents to a 52.0 scoring average over three games. He had a team-high eight rebounds against Montana State-Billings while posting 13 points. Blankley averaged 10 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals in the three games.