Three Lone Star Conference men’s basketball teams closed the regular season undefeated as No. 18 DBU and Midwestern State both picked up a pair of wins and Angelo State earned a trio of victories. No. 2 West Texas A&M and No. 6 Lubbock Christian split their series last week with each team winning on the road, and No. 10 Texas A&M-Kingsville also split their final series of the regular season against UT Tyler.
 
            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 have qualified for the tournament based on the basketball point rating system.
 
DIVISION II MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Due to COVID-19, NCAA Division II has approved regional alignment adjustments, bracket reductions, and predetermined regional sites for the basketball championships. With the adjustments, the LSC will be joined by the Great American Conference (GAC) in the South Central Region for the 2021 postseason.  The Division II Championship bracket has been reduced to 48 teams from 64, with six teams selected from each of the eight regions this year.  The predetermined regional site for men’s basketball is Lubbock, Texas hosted by Lubbock Christian, with games set for March 13-14-16.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Joel Murray, West Texas A&M, JR, Engineering, G, Rowlett, Texas, Rowlett HS
Joel Murray had another huge weekend for the Buffs as the league’s leading scorer averaged 34.5 points per game shooting 56.5 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three and 73.7 percent from the free throw line as the Buffs split with No. 6 Lubbock Christian. In Thursday’s 82-78 win in Lubbock, Murray went 11-of-21 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe including three in the final seconds to give him 32 points on the night, tying a career-high. He came back and scored a career-high 37 points on Saturday, the ninth-most in a single game in program history. He made a career-best 15 shots on 25 attempts as the Buffs earned the No. 2 seed in this week’s Lone Star Conference Championships.
 
DEFENSIVE
Chandler Jacobs, DBU, SR, Accounting, G, Missouri City, Texas, Elkins HS
Chandler Jacobs helped lift the 18th-ranked Patriots to two wins over Western New Mexico to close the regular season with a strong performance on the defensive end that included 11 steals and 5.5 rebounds per game. In Friday's 76-58 win against the Mustangs, Jacobs registered six steals which ranks fifth-best in a single-game in DBU history. Jacobs also led a defensive effort that held Western New Mexico to just 62.5 points per game and 41.9 percent shooting from the field.
 
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
F-22    Payton Brown, UAFS
M-1     Joel Murray, West Texas A&M (2)
 
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)
F-22    Kavon Booker, West Texas A&M
M-1     Chandler Jacobs, DBU (6)

SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
     Lloyd Daniels, Lubbock Christian, played his two best games of the year on the most important weekend as LCU split with WT and claimed their first LSC Men’s Basketball Championship. He averaged 27 points across the two contests, scoring 23 in a close loss Thursday before pouring in a season-high 31 in Saturday's win in Canyon, Texas. He shot a scorching 76 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from behind the arc and 92.3 percent from the free throw line for the week.
 
     Brock Schreiner, Cameron, saved two of his best performances of the season for last as the junior scored 25 points in back-to-back games against Texas A&M-Commerce. After scoring just two points in CU’s previous outing, the junior guard bounced back for 25 points in Thursday’s meeting with the Lions. Schreiner made four shots from long range and was 7-7 from the charity stripe while adding three rebounds and five assists for the Aggies. He followed that up with another 25-point outing in CU’s win over A&M-C in the regular-season finale. Schreiner was 8-15 in that game with three more made triples, a 6-7 mark from the foul line, and five rebounds and four assists. The two 20-plus point outings give him six on the season as he finishes 2020-21 with a scoring average of 17.2, which ranks eighth-best in the LSC.
 
     Daniel Venzant, St. Edward’s, led SEU to a 2-1 final week of the regular season to earn the eighth seed in the LSC Basketball Championship. He led the team in points, assists and steals this week. He was incredibly efficient, shooting 68.4 percent while averaging 21.3 points per game and had a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio with 16 assists across three games.
 
     Creighton Avery, Texas A&M-Kingsville, paced the Javelinas' offensive effort in a split with UT Tyler to close the regular season and secure the program's first divisional title as he averaged 19.5 points on a blistering .500 clip during the week. He posted 26 points in Wednesday's hard-fought loss, a new career-high, while going 11-20 from the field along with five assists. He followed that up with 13 points on a 5-12 clip in the season finale en route to a 56-52 win along with two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
 
     Marco Foster, Oklahoma Christian, finished his freshman season in strong fashion, averaging 15.3 points per game as OC beat UAFS 76-70 and split a pair of games with St. Mary’s. He hit 40.7 percent from 3-point range (11-of-27) and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the LSC in 3-point percentage (42.8). Against UAFS, he had 14 points and a season-high seven assists, and in the second game against St. Mary’s, an 83-76 loss, he grabbed a season-high seven rebounds to go with 20 points.
 
     Marco Foster, Oklahoma Christian, fueled a late rally that fell just short in an 80-78 loss to Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday. He scored 23 points, finishing 7-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Two of his 3-pointers came in the final 19.4 seconds as OC closed an eight-point deficit to two before time expired. He also added four assists and three rebounds.
 
     Tyler Caron, St. Mary’s, closed out the season with some of his best basketball. The redshirt-freshman scored 60 points over four games. Caron scored 22 points and shot 70 percent from the field against St. Edward's. In two games against Oklahoma Christian, Caron scored 29 points including his first career double-double in game two against the Eagles, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Caron closed out his redshirt-freshman campaign averaging 11.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest.
 
     Darius Alford, UT Tyler, scored in double-digits in each of the Patriot's games against No. 10 Texas A&M-Kingsville. He scored 11 in UT Tyler's 61-60 win over the Javelinas on Wednesday night and shot 50 percent (9-18) from the field for the week. The win extended the win streak for the team to six straight games, the longest such streak in the program's second year competing in the LSC. Alford finished up his week with 13 points on Saturday to average 12.0 for the week.
 
      Kevon Godwin, Angelo State, tallied double digits in points all three games as the Rams closed out the regular season with three straight wins to earn the fifth seed. He shot 50 percent from three-point range and added five steals as the Rams defeated TAMUC and won two games against TAMIU. He collected 13 rebounds in all and dished out eight assists.
 
      Will Chayer, Texas A&M-Kingsville, anchored the Javelina defensive effort in a split with UT Tyler to close out the regular season as he finished with a 9.0 scoring and 9.5 rebounding average. He started off the week with 12 points and 15 rebounds in Wednesday's loss to the Patriots, recording his second double-double of the season and posting a new career high on the boards in the process, and added a block and a steal to his efforts. He followed that up with three blocks and four rebounds in Saturday's win that keyed the TAMUK defense that held UT Tyler to its lowest scoring output of the season at 52 points, only the second time all year the Patriots were limited to fewer than 60 points in a game.
 
      Jermane Carter, Midwestern State, led Midwestern State to a pair of critical wins over UT Permian Basin to clinch a berth in the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament. The 6-7 junior averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field to help the Mustangs claim the No. 6 seed. He also added five assists, two steals and a block. Carter was one rebound shy of a double-double finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists in an 88-63 win Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. He closed his second double-double in the last three gas by finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds in a 71-61 road win on Saturday. It was the Mustangs' first win ever at the Falcon Dome. He also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to bring his LSC leading average to 4.6 per game.
 
      Nyk Madison, Oklahoma Christian, who had 14 blocked shots all season, came off the bench to record nine blocks this week as OC closed the season with two wins in three games. He had one block and one steal in a 76-70 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith on Monday, then had four blocks in both games against St. Mary’s – a 79-68 win on Friday and an 83-76 loss on Saturday. He combined that defense with solid offense, averaging 12.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and hitting 64.3 percent from the field (18-of-28).
 
      Parker Hicks, Lubbock Christian, was a force on the glass as LCU split with No. 2 West Texas A&M to claim its first LSC Men’s Basketball Championship. He pulled down 11 rebounds in each game, 18 of which came on the defensive end of the floor as the Chaps held the Buffs to 83.5 points per game which was well below their season average of 93.6 points.