The West Texas A&M Buffs captured their fifth straight Lone Star Conference Tournament championship by beating Texas A&M-Kingsville, 77-70, on Sunday in Frisco. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]
Buffs Claim 5th Straight LSC Championship Title
West Texas A&M (28-6) claimed it fifth straight and 11th overall LSC Tournament championship on Sunday with a 77-70 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville at Comerica Center in Frisco.
The No. 2 seeded Buffs (28-6) were in control from start to finish, but needed to hold off a gritty Kingsville team, the No. 12 seed that became the lowest seed in conference history to reach the final game.
Like he did all weekend, WT guard Julius Brown led the way for Buffs, scoring 20 points with six assists, five rebounds and two steals. Brown scored 76 points in the three games and was named tournament MVP.
Joining Brown on the all-tournament team for the Buffs was Zach Toussaint, who had 19 points on Sunday. This was the second straight year Toussaint made the all-tournament team. Toussaint scored 32 points in the tournament and enters next week’s regional needing 28 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
WT will make its 20th appearance in the NCAA postseason. The Buffs are the No. 2-seed in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional that begins Saturday at host school, and No. 1-seed Lubbock Christian University. WT opens the regional in a quarterfinal against No. 7-seed Angelo State at 2:30 p.m.
The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs captured their 16th Lone Star Conference Tournament championship on Sunday in Frisco. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]
Lady Buffs Survive In Final Seconds; Claim LSC Title
West Texas A&M proved once again, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
The Lady Buffs rallied back from a seven-point fourth quarter deficit to beat No. 10 Texas A&M-Commerce in a 67-66 thriller to capture the Lone Star Conference Tournament championship on Sunday afternoon at the Comerica Center in Frisco.
In a back-and-forth battle with two of the best teams in both the conference and the region, WT (23-10) got two clutch free-throws from Lauren Taylor with less than five seconds to play to grab one-point lead.
With no timeouts left for either team, the Lions (26-4) had to rush up the floor and Asiyha Smith got an open 3-point look from the wing but the shot rimmed off no good, igniting the WT bench to rush the court in celebration.
It’s the 16th LSC Tournament championship for the Lady Buffs and the third in the last five years, but first under new head coach Josh Prock.
The Lady Buffs needed a clutch fourth quarter, ignited by tournament MVP Karley Motschenbacher, who scored 16 of 20 points in the second half, and added nine rebounds.
Motschenbacher was named Tournament MVP Alivia Lewis was a force in the paint scoring 10 points with 13 rebounds for a double-double, while also tying an LSC Tournament single-game record with nine blocked shots.
The Lady Buffs are making their 27th appearance in the NCAA Division II Postseason.
WT claims the top-seed and will host the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. The Lady Buffs will play No. 8-seed Colorado Mesa on Friday.
