Thursday, February 15 • at Oklahoma Christian • 7:30 p.m.
St. Mary's (10-12, 6-10)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (10-12)
at Oklahoma Christian (11-12, 8-9)
Head Coach: Kendre Talley (44-78)
Arena: Payne Athletic Center
Saturday, February 17 • at UAFS • 3 p.m.
St. Mary's (10-12, 6-10)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (10-12)
at UAFS (5-18, 3-14)
Head Coach: Zane Gibson (33-56)
Arena: Gayle Kaundart Arena at Stubblefield Center
Opening Tip
•   After splitting last week, the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team remains in the hunt for one of the final spots in the Lone Star Conference Tournament but faces another tough week on the road at Oklahoma Christian and UAFS.
•   The Rattlers have won three straight against Oklahoma Christian and now lead the all-time series 12-6. StMU is 5-4 against the Eagles in Oklahoma City and has won the last two.
•   Senior Tyler Caron blocked quite possibly the biggest shot of his career with one second left to preserve the 77-75 win when the Rattlers met the Eagles the first time this season. Caron tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, as did senior Lachlan Bofinger. Franklin Agu and Davion Coleman each scored 16 and Jalon Johnson led with seven assists.
•   St. Mary's won its fourth-straight against UAFS with a 90-57 win earlier this year, but the Lions still lead 16-14 in the all-time series. StMU is just 2-10 in Fort Smith, but did win there a year ago.
•   The Rattlers forced UAFS into 23 turnovers in the first meeting, with Diego Gonzalez wreaking havoc with his seven steals, including three in a stretch of 33 seconds late in the first half. Davion Coleman led all scorers with 23 points. Jalon Johnson led with seven assists. Edward Manuel came off the bench to score 13 points, while both Franklin Agu and Keith Dinwiddie added 11 points each. Lachlan Bofinger narrowly missed a double-double, grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his eight points.
•   Senior Tyler Caron became the 23rd player in St. Mary's history to top the 1,000 point milestone, doing so with a layup at 18:55 in the second half at DBU. Caron now has 1,007 points with at least six games remaining in his career.
•   Diego Gonzalez became the sixth different Rattler this season to score 20 or more points in a game when he scored a career-best 20 at DBU on Saturday. He made his first four shots from the field and ended 7-of-10 on the day.
•   St. Mary's has only one player averaging more than 30 minutes per game in senior guard Jalon Johnson (32.0). Four others are averaging between 24.6 and 26.7 per game, while another five are playing between 11.1 and 18.7 a contest.
•   The Rattlers have the best bench scoring in the Lone Star Conference, as the team averages 31.14 points from the non-starters. That average also ranks as the 23rd-best in the nation.
•   Senior Lachlan Bofinger has amassed 11 double-doubles this season. He currently ranks 10th nationally and second in the league, two back from UTPB's Lathaniel Bastian. The 11 double-doubles are the most at St. Mary's since Kevin Kotzur posted 19 in his senior season (2012-13).
•   While in the starting lineup, Franklin Agu has averaged 13.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Those numbers are up from 5.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists when he comes off the bench.
•   A season ago, the Rattlers scored over 75 a total of eight times. This season, the team has scored over 75 in 20 of the first 22 games of the year.
•   Lachlan Bofinger ranks third in the Lone Star Conference (and is 29th in the nation) in offensive rebounds with 3.23 per game. He also ranks second in the Lone Star in total rebounds per game with 8.8, which is 29th nationally.
•   Senior Diego Gonzalez tied for the third-most steals in a single game when he swiped seven against UAFS on Jan. 18. Gonzalez tied Ky Dell from Feb. 15, 2003 against Drury and was two off the record of nine by both Billy White (2002) and Isaiah Parros (2015).
•   Diego Gonzalez has jumped to third in the Lone Star Conference with 1.86 steals per game after swiping 25 in the last 10 games. His average also ranks 59th nationally.
•   The Rattlers have utilized nine different starting lineups in 20 games this season. Only Jalon Johnson has started all 22 contests, though four Rattlers have played in all 22.
•   Several Rattlers are closing in or recently accomplished career milestones:
   Franklin Agu: 5 points shy of 200
   Lachlan Bofinger: 400th rebound at UT Tyler (409); 17 assists shy 100
   Tyler Caron: 1,000th point at DBU (1,007); 400th rebound at UT Tyler (404)
   Keith Dinwiddie: 1 point shy of 200 at StMU
   Jalon Johnson: 400th point at UTT (420); 200th assist at UTT (201)
   Edward Manuel: 9 points shy of 200 at StMU
•   In the overtime loss at Midwestern State, the Rattlers collected a school record 29 offensive rebounds (Division II era), breaking the previous record of 28 against Huston-Tillotson on Dec. 1, 2009. St. Mary's out-rebounded the Mustangs 62-to-33 in the game.
•   Senior transfer Davion Coleman earned the first-ever Lone Star Offensive Player of the Week honors after helping lead the team to a 2-0 start. Coleman averaged 25.5 points, scoring a career-best 29 in the win over Regis.
•   St. Mary's has made at least one three-pointer in 184 consecutive games, dating back to Jan. 14, 2017. The Rattlers are averaging 6.5 triples a contest and 10 different players have made at least one this year.
