This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Southeastern Oklahoma State • Thursday, November 20 • 7:30 p.m.
Southeastern Oklahoma State (0-2)
Head Coach: Kelly Green (226-199)
at #RV St. Mary's (2-0)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (34-27)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow
MSU Denver • Saturday, November 22 • 1 p.m.
MSU Denver (1-1)
Head Coach: Dan Ficke (112-63)
at #RV St. Mary's (2-0)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (34-27)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow
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Staying Home: The St. Mary's Men's Basketball team remains at home for a pair of non-conference games against Southeastern Oklahoma State and MSU Denver on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m., respectively. The Rattlers haven't faced the Savage Storm since 2018 or the Roadrunners since 2013.
Home Cooking: St. Mary's begins the season with its first seven games at home and 12 of its first 13 games will be played in San Antonio, as the two games of the River City Classic on Dec. 16-17 will be played across town at the NISD Sports Gym. It ties the school record for most games at home to open the year, knotting the seven the 1992-93 started with at home. That team finished 12-15 overall and 4-6 in the Heart of Texas Conference.
History with Southeastern Oklahoma State: The Rattlers trail 10-2 in the all-time series with the Savage Storm, but only three of the meetings are the in Division II era, as the two teams played nine times between 1947-1951. All 12 games in the series have been played on the Rattlers home court, with the last being an 89-80 win for SEOSU on Nov. 28, 2018.
History with MSU Denver: The Roadrunners won the lone meeting 78-70 back on March 19, 2013 in the NCAA South Central Regional in Denver. MSU Denver is the third RMAC opponent on the docket for the Rattlers this season.
Stop, Thieves: St. Mary's currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and ninth in the nation in steals per game, averaging 12.5. DBU leads the league with 14.8 per game, while Gannon leads the country with 16.5 a night. Senior forward Eddie McPhee leads the team with 3.5 thefts a contest, which leads the league and is 16th nationally. Fellow senior Sebastian Mendoza ranks seventh in the LSC with 2.5 per game and sophomore Lawyer Jones is 21st with 2.0.
D-D-D-Defense: The Rattlers also lead the league and rank eighth nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score only 57.5 points per game. StMU ranked 40th a season ago, surrendering 68.7 points a night.
Preseason Honor: Senior guard Damani Claxton has already been honored before the first ball even tips in the air, as he was named the Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year in a vote by the league's head coaches, media, and sports information personnel. Claxton was an NABC and D2CCA All-Region Second-Team and a Lone Star All-Conference First-Team selection last year after leading the team with 17.1 points, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He was also the league's Newcomer of the Year.
Picked Second: St. Mary's was chosen to finish second in the 2025-26 Lone Star Conference race. DBU totaled 850 points and collected 42 of the possible 51 first-place votes to be the favorite in the poll. The Rattlers received 724 points and two first-place votes for second, while Lubbock Christian (4, 720) is third, St. Edward's (669) and West Texas A&M (2, 654) round out the top five. It is the highest-ever predicted finish for the Rattlers since joining the LSC in 2019-20.
What's Returning: St. Mary's returns five letterwinners off last year's squad in Damani Claxton, Lawyer Jones, Eddie McPhee, Sebastian Mendoza and Wayne Wiggins. Those five players accounted for 54.2 percent of the team's scoring in 2024-25, as well as 38.1 percent of the rebounding, 58.7 percent of assists, 64.9 percent of steals and 48.6 percent of the blocked shots.
Getting Votes: The Rattlers received 46 votes in the Preseason NABC Poll. Five StMU opponents in 2025-26 are also appearing as DBU is ranked No. 3, Colorado School of Mines is No. 10, Lubbock Christian is No. 25 and both Central Oklahoma and West Texas A&M are receiving votes.
Entering His Name: Damani Claxton scored 530 points last season, good for 13th on the St. Mary's single-season scoring chart. It is also the second-most points during the school's Division II era, trailing only Kevin Kotzur's 550 from 2012-13 in his senior campaign. Claxton also finished 20th in points per game (17.10), 19th in field goals made (185), 11th in field goals attempted (399), 19th in free throws made (115), tied for 10th in steals (49), 15th in steals per game (1.58) and third in minutes played (1,011). Fellow senior guard Wayne Wiggins joined Claxton on the total steals list in a tie for 13th (44) and 16th in steals per game (1.52).
Windex: Eight times in 2024-25, the Rattlers recorded 20 or more offensive rebounds in a contest. The team averaged 14.84 per game to rank ninth in the nation and lead the Lone Star Conference on the offensive glass. The 14.84 also ranks seventh on the StMU single season charts and is the highest average in the school's Division II era.
Made to be Broken: The 16 victories for the Rattlers last season in Lone Star Conference play established a new school single season record for conference victories. Both the 1996-97 (15-1) and 2014-15 (15-5) teams shared the previous record with 15 league wins.
What's New in 2025-26: The Rattlers added three freshmen (Ayden Clarke, Michael Grant, Raken Vargas) to the team this season in addition to a trio of junior college transfers (Justin Britt, Savon Myers, JJ Walton) and a pair of senior four-year transfers (Olaverr Camacho, Freddie Cooper).
