Five Lone Star Conference men’s basketball programs were unbeaten in a week marked by several postponements and cancelations due to Winter storms in cities across the league. No. 5 West Texas A&M, No. 9 Lubbock Christian and UT Tyler all picked up multiple wins with the Patriots earning a 3-0 mark in conference games. WT and LCU each won two games with the Buffs picking up a conference win on Saturday. St. Mary’s earned a conference win in their only game of the week and DBU registered a non-conference win.
 
            LSC schedule and results available here: https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=mbball
 
LSC BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSC Men’s Basketball Championship is set for March 2-5-6, 2021, with quarterfinal games on campus sites on Tuesday, March 2. The four winning teams will advance to the final site at the highest remaining seed to play semifinal games on Friday, March 5, followed by the championship game on Saturday, March 6. The top eight teams will qualify for the tournament based on the basketball point rating system. The divisional champions will automatically qualify for the tournament and be seeded according to the point rating system. All teams must play a minimum of 11 games to qualify for the conference tournament.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Joel Murray, West Texas A&M, JR, Engineering, G, Rowlett, Texas, Rowlett HS
Joel Murray continues to lead the Lone Star Conference in scoring at 22.5 points per game after leading the Buffs to a pair of victories last week. The junior averaged 25.0 points and 5 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the floor and 88.2 percent from the free throw line as the Buffs improved to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in LSC play. In Tuesday’s win over Western New Mexico, he shot 69.2 percent from the floor to finish with a game-high 26 points. He added 24 points, five assists and six rebounds in Saturday’s 75-51 victory over Oklahoma Christian at the First United Bank Center. 

DEFENSIVE
Emanuel Gant, UT Tyler, SR, Applied Arts and Sciences, G, Phoenix, Ariz., Tempe HS
Emanuel Gant averaged 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest in UT Tyler's three wins last week. He recorded a double-double on Monday afternoon against Cameron with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Patriots to an 85-75 overtime win. The senior also added a block and a steal. He continued his consistent play on Friday night in a second consecutive overtime win for UT Tyler going for 20 points and six rebounds, four assists and a steal. He finished up his week with seven points, five rebounds, two steals and a block in a 79-71 victory over UAFS to help UTT extend its win streak to four games which marks the longest winning run for the Patriots since joining the LSC.
 
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
D-14    Chandler Jacobs, DBU
D-21    Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian
J-5       B.J. Maxwell, St. Edward’s
J-11     Chandler Jacobs, DBU (3)
J-18     Chandler Jacobs, DBU (4)
J-25     Ricky Lujan, DBU
F-1      Jordan Horn, UT Permian Basin
F-8      Will Chayer, Texas A&M-Kingsville (2)
F-15    Joel Murray, West Texas A&M
 
Defensive
D-14    Logan Cook, St. Edward's
D-21    Qua Grant, West Texas A&M
J-5       Chandler Jacobs, DBU (2)
J-11     Qua Grant, West Texas A&M (2)
J-18     Emmanuel Gant, UT Tyler
J-25     Chandler Jacobs, DBU (5)
F-1      Will Chayer, Texas A&M-Kingsville
F-8      Jordan Wilson, Texas A&M-Kingsville
F-15    Emmanuel Gant, UT Tyler (2)

SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
     Payton Brown, UAFS, continued his scoring surge as a freshman, scoring 36 points in a double-overtime loss at UT Tyler. He then followed that up with a 25 point performance in game two, to average 30.5 points for the weekend. He now leads the team in scoring at 19.9 points per game. He was efficient from the floor, shooting 60.7 percent from the floor, including 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. He was a perfect 22-for-22 from the line. He also added four rebounds per game.
 
     Chandler Jacobs, DBU, scored a game-high 25 points in a 112-62 win over Southwestern Adventist last Thursday.  Jacobs posted a .769 field goal percentage after connecting on 10-of-13 shots while going 5-8 from three-point range.  Jacobs also finished two rebounds shy of a double-double, pulling down eight rebounds in the win.
 
     Mamady Djikine, St. Mary's, recorded his second double-double of the season as the junior college transfer netted 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, helping St. Mary's to a 76-73 victory over St. Edward's on Friday. The win is the first for the Rattlers against the Hilltoppers since Feb. 11, 2017. Djikine is second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.5 points per game and is pulling down a team-high eight rebounds per contest.
 
     Da'Zhon Wyche, UT Tyler, posted two of his highest career point totals while averaging 22.7 points a game in three wins for UT Tyler last week. He started his week with a 26-point effort in the Patriot's 85-75 overtime win against Cameron on Monday afternoon, matching his season and career high. He finished his week with a new career-high 30-point effort against UAFS as the Patriots extended their win streak to four games, the longest win streak for the program in the LSC. Wyche shot 50-percent (22-of-44) from the field for the week and connected on 12-of-26 attempts (46.2-percent) from beyond the arc. Wyche was the offensive catalyst for back-to-back overtime wins for the Patriots against Cameron on Monday and UAFS on Friday night, and is tied for the team lead in scoring for the season now with an average of 14.1 points per contest.
 
     Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian, was LCU's leading scorer with 18.5 points per game in a pair of dominant wins over Western New Mexico. He did the majority of his work during the weekend from behind the arc, shooting an extremely efficient 77.8 percent (7-of-9) on three-pointers. He scored 15 points in the first game and matched his career high with five assists, followed by 22 points in the second game to go along with seven rebounds.
 
     Qua Grant, West Texas A&M, had another impressive weekend for the Buffs as he averaged 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in wins over Western New Mexico and Oklahoma Christian. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in WT’s 98-80 victory over the Mustangs. He finished the weekend with a 22-point, 8-rebound performance on Saturday where the Buffs held OC to 51 points, their lowest point total against a Division II opponent since Dec. 18, 2015.