Championship Central

By NICK EATMAN
 
            FRISCO, Texas – Led by freshman Ethan Duncan, Lubbock Christian used some clutch shooting in the second half to pull away from St. Edward’s for an 80-67 win Friday in the opening game of the LSC Championships at Comerica Center.
            Duncan, who was recently named to the All-LSC second-team and the All-LSC Freshman team, scored a game-high 23 points. The best 3-point shooter in the LSC didn’t disappoint, hitting all four of his attempts beyond the arc, giving him 103 for the season, the most of any player in the conference.
            Leading by five, 52-47 at the 10:00 mark in the second half, the Chaps went on a 13-5 run, aided by a couple of layups by Duncan and two baskets from Najeeb Muhammed, who also had 15 points.
            Ty Caswell scored 11 points with five assists and Kurt Wegscheider had 13 points and eight rounds for LCU, the No. 3 seed of the tournament. The Chaps advance to Saturday’s semifinal round against the winner of DBU/Texas A&M-International.
            The Chaps improve to 22-9 on the season and helped their chances of making the regional tournament as the current No. 7 team in the region.
            For SEU, the Hilltoppers’ season likely comes to an end at 14-9. Blake Nielsen scored 17 points to lead the team, followed by Sean Elkington, who had 15 points. Gavino Ramos scored 12 with five rebounds.
            A close game in the first half saw two ties and two lead changes as SEU led 26-22 after a Ramos layup with 4:40 to play before halftime. But that’s when Duncan answered with a 3-pointer, followed by a layup and another jumper to ignite a 7-0 run.
            Duncan’s performance was a bounce-back from a Feb. 22 game in which SEU knocked off LCU in Austin, 91-84. Duncan shot just 2-of-14 for six points, but more than made up for it in Friday’s win.
 
LCU Notes:

• Friday’s game was the fourth straight matchup between LCU and SEU in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The Chaps are now 3-1 in those meetings.
• LCU entered the tournament ranked third in margin per victory at 10.2, which will improve with the 13-point win.
• The Chaps were last in the conference in rebounding at 31.2. And although they had 29 boards, they were able to stay even with SEU on the glass with 29 each.
• Najeeb Muhammad led the LSC in minutes per game at 34.7. And while he only played 16 in the first half due to foul trouble, he played the entire second half and finish with 36 minutes.
• LCU is now 4-4 all-time in the LSC Championship. A win on Saturday would put the Chaps into the tournament final for the first time.

St. Edward’s Notes:

• SEU is now 5-5 in the LSC Championship.
• The Hilltoppers had the best free-throw percentage in the LSC at 79.2. While they were able to just top that on Friday with an 8-of-10 showing for 80 percent, there just weren’t enough attempts to make a difference.
• Blake Nielsen (first) and Gavino Ramos (fifth) are two of the best passers in the LSCand combined for 10 assists between them.