Balanced effort sends St. Mary’s past Western New Mexico for first LSC tourney win - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content

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Balanced effort sends St. Mary’s past Western New Mexico for first LSC tourney win

Championship Central
 
By NICK EATMAN
 
 FRISCO, Texas –  History was going to be made one way or another in Thursday’s fourth and final quarterfinal game of the LSC Championship Tournament.

In a matchup of two programs that had never won a postseason game in this conference tournament, it was St. Mary’s that prevailed with a 94-80 win. The No. 5 seeded Rattlers provided the only upset of the day, knocking off No. 4 Western New Mexico, which made its first-ever appearance in the LSC Championship.

For St. Mary’s, the school was 0-3 in the postseason tourney since joining the conference in 2019. The Rattlers improve to 25-7 and will face No. 1 DBU in Saturday’s semifinal at Noon.

The Mustangs drop to 22-7 and will now get ready for next week’s regional as they currently rank No. 4 in the South Central rankings. St. Mary’s is 10th but could get the automatic berth by winning two more and claiming the LSC title.

As the 4-5 game usually is in the quarterfinal round, it was a highly-competitive matchup that saw the Rattlers build a 14-point halftime lead, only to see the Mustangs claw back and get within four. However, in the end, the Rattlers always seemed to have an answer.

Justin Britt scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, including several clutch baskets to stop the Mustangs’ run. What Britt was able to do in the second half is what Lawyer Jones did in the first. He scored 14 in the first half and finished with 20. Damani Claxton scored 19 with four assists and Wayne Wiggins chipped in with 17.

WNMU had four players in double figures, led by Andre Harris’ 20 points. Carson Kelly had 13 and Cortaviaus Seales and Trenton Gordon each added 12.

The Rattlers led for all but a minute of the first half, building the lead to as much as 14 with a Lawyer Jones 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 43-29 lead.
 
St. Mary’s Notes:
  • The Rattlers are now 1-3 in all-time LSC tournament games.
  • Justin Britt recorded his sixth game of the season with at least 16 points. The Rattlers are 5-1 in those contests this year.
  • Olaverr Camacho is seventh in the LSC in rebounds, averaging 7.5. But there’s something about playing the Mustangs that gets him on the boards. He had nine on Thursday and his season-high was 13, also against WNMU on Feb. 21.
  • St. Mary’s improved to 18-3 when getting into double-digits in assists. The Rattlers shared the ball for 19 assists on Thursday.
  • SMU shot 57.1 percent from 3-point land, making 8 of 14. The Rattlers are now 8-0 when shooting over 41.0 percent.
 Western New Mexico Notes:
  • The Mustangs were looking for the school’s first-ever conference tournament win. WNMU had never made an appearance in the LSC Championship since joining in 2016. And they had just one appearance as members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).
  • A strength of the Mustangs all year has been three-point defense, leading the conference and ranking fifth in the nation, holding teams to a 28.4 percent. But they couldn’t prevent St. Mary’s from posting a hot night beyond the arc, hitting 57.1 percent.
  • WNMU led the conference in blocks with 4.5 a game, but only finished with two.
  • Andre Harris had just one 20-point game heading into the final regular-season weekend. But he scored 21 at LCU, 29 at Midwestern State and then 20 on Thursday, giving him three straight 20-point scoring games.