Men's Basketball Hosts Rematch With Mustangs

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Midwestern State • Monday, December 16 • 2 p.m.
Midwestern State (6-2, 3-1)
Head Coach: Justin Leslie (335-195)
at St. Mary's (5-2, 3-1)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (17-18)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

Rematch: St. Mary's and Midwestern State will meet for the second time this season in a non-conference game on Monday at 2 p.m. The Mustangs won the first meeting 73-50 in Wichita Falls on Nov. 21. It is the last home game of the 2024 calendar year for the Rattlers, who will head to Las Vegas for the D2 Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 19-20.

History with Midwestern State: The Rattlers have dropped four straight to the Mustangs and now trail 20-19 in the all-time series. St. Mary's has a commanding lead at home, however, winning 12 of the 14 games between the clubs, though MSU won last December, 83-76 in Bill Greehey Arena.

Scouting the Mustangs: Midwestern State is 6-2 overall and tied with StMU at 3-1 in Lone Star Conference action. The Mustangs won by 10 at UT Tyler last Friday, 62-52 after dropping a two-point heartbreaker at #5 DBU, 77-75. Mason Gibson leads the team with 19.5 points per game, the league's second-leading scorer, while Reggie Hill comes off the bench to lead the club with 7.4 rebounds a game. Pierre Sanders leads the Lone Star Conference with a 3.30 assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging 4.1 assists per night. 

Going Streaking: St. Mary's has won three games in a row, the longest streak of the year and tied for the longest winning streak in the Bubba Meyer era. Last season's team won three straight in an eight-day stretch from Jan. 13-20. The 3-1 start to the Lone Star Conference season ties for the best start in the team's sixth year in the league. Both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 teams also started 3-1.

First Meeting: Freshman guard Lawyer Jones came off the bench to score in double figures for the second time in his young career, and junior Josh Reid was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, but St. Mary's struggled shooting against Midwestern State, falling 73-50. The Rattlers used an eight-point scoring run early in the first quarter to build a four-point advantage, 10-6, but the Mustangs answered with an eight-point run of their own to grab the lead and never relinquished it. Senior Lachlan Bofinger led the game with 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass, and he narrowly missed his second double-double of the year, scoring eight points. Senior Sebastian Mendoza also scored eight, along with Reid, while Mendoza led the team with four assists.

Closing In: Senior Lachlan Bofinger needs four more points to reach 400 in his St. Mary's career and is six shy of 600 for his collegiate career. The next point for Damani Claxton will be his 200th, while senior Diego Gonzalez is 13 points shy of 200 in the Gold and Blue. 

It's An Honor: Sophomore guard Damani Claxton was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week. He collected nine steals in the two games (4.5 per game) – including a career-best six in the team's lopsided win over Sul Ross State. His six steals tie for the third-highest total in the Rattlers' DII-era history. He also averaged 15.0 points per game with 4.5 assists in helping the Gold and Blue stretch their win total to three straight. He swiped the six while only playing 18 minutes, adding 19 points, five assists and a rebound. Against Western New Mexico on Thursday, Claxton scored 11, and recorded four assists, three steals, a rebound and a blocked shot.

Cleaning the Glass: The Rattlers have had at least 10 offensive rebounds in every game this season and currently lead the Lone Star and rank fourth nationally with 17.43 offensive rebounds a game. That number currently ranks third on the St. Mary's single season charts, trailing 20.92 by the 1955-56 team and 19.50 by the 1994-95 squad.

Crashing the Boards: Seven Rattlers have at least one rebound in every game they've played this season. Franklin Agu, Damani Claxton, Josh Reid, and Malcolm Steadman have all grabbed at least one board, while Lachlan Bofinger, Eddie McPhee, and Wayne Wiggins have multiple rebounds in each contest.

Taking Care of the Ball: It all comes down to turnovers this season. The Rattlers are 5-0 when they have fewer turnovers than the opponents and 0-2 when they turn the ball over more than the opposition. StMU is averaging 11.9 miscues a game and has a +4.3 turnover margin, which ranks sixth in the Lone Star and 32nd in all of Division II (287 teams). In their wins, the Rattlers are averaging 10.6 TO, while in the losses they have turned it over an average of 15.0 times.

A Perfect 10: St. Mary's has already had eight players score 10 or more points at least twice this season. Damani Claxton has hit double figures in six games, while Lachlan Bofinger has done so five times. Wayne Wiggins has reached at least 10 three times and Franklin Agu, Lawyer Jones, Eman Lawal, Eddie McPhee, and Sebastian Mendoza have all done so twice.

Talk to our Lawyer: Lawyer Jones is the first true freshman to play at St. Mary's since Norman Beckford in 2020-21. Jones is averaging 6.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game coming off the bench for the Rattlers. Beckford played in 11 games during the Covid shortened season, starting six. He averaged 6.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

Lach-ing It In: Senior Lachlan Bofinger currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in rebounds per game (9.3) and second in offensive rebounds per game (4.14). Bofinger currently ranks ninth in the nation in offensive rebounds and 21st in total rebounds. He also ranks 22nd nationally with three double-doubles. 

Stop, Thief: Sophomore Damani Claxton is averaging 2.43 steals per game to rank second in the Lone Star statistics and 29th in the nation. Against Sul Ross State on Saturday he swiped six, tying for the third-highest total in the Rattlers' DII-era history. He's had multiple thefts in five of the seven games and his average of 2.43 per game would break the school's single season record of 2.20 by Billy White from 2003-04.

Limiting Opportunities: While the Rattlers are one of the best in the nation on the offensive glass, the Gold and Blue has also done a great job this season of limiting second chance points for opponents, allowing teams only 8.14 offensive rebounds per game, less than half of the Rattlers average of 17.43. Foes have scored only 68 this year on second chances (9.71 per game).