Important Trip West Looms for Men's Basketball

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
at West Texas A&M • Thursday, February 20 • 7:30 p.m. 
St. Mary's (18-6, 15-3)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (30-22)
at West Texas A&M (16-9, 11-8)
Head Coach: Tom Brown (282-71)
Broadcast: FloCollege

at Eastern New Mexico • Saturday, February 22 • 4 p.m.
St. Mary's (18-6, 15-3)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (30-22)
at Eastern New Mexico (17-8, 12-7)
Head Coach: Daven Vo (17-8)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Doc Elder

Headed West: St. Mary's travels west in the second-to-last week of regular season competition, taking on West Texas A&M on Thursday before traveling to Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon in a pair of games featuring the best rebounding teams in the Lone Star Conference.

History with West Texas A&M: The Buffs hold a commanding 19-3 lead in the all-time series against the Rattlers and are a perfect 9-0 at home. The last win in the ledger for the Rattlers was a 100-98 overtime win on Feb. 1, 2022.

Scouting the Buffs: West Texas A&M is in fourth place in the west division with an 11-8 conference record and is 16-9 overall. The Buffs attempt 25.1 triples a game, more than any other team in the Lone Star, however they are sixth in makes at 8.2 a contest. Ahamed Mohammed leads the league with 17.7 points per game, while Jailyn Sledge ranks sixth with 6.4 rebounds a night. He is also second with almost two steals per game and fifth with 1.04 blocks a contest. 

History with Eastern New Mexico: St. Mary's plays in Portales on Saturday for only the second-time in school history, but the second-straight season. The Greyhounds won 101-82 on Dec. 2, 2023 in the last meeting. ENMU holds a 4-2 lead in the series that began in 2004 in Las Vegas.

Scouting the Greyhounds: Eastern New Mexico ranks sixth in the nation with 21.04 fastbreak points per game, playing an up-tempo style game. They are also extremely efficient, ranking fifth nationally with a 51.9 field goal percentage and eighth in Division II with a +8.7 rebounding margin. They are outscoring opponents by 15.0 per game, which ranks fifth nationally and their 89.2 points per game ranks 11th. Mario Whitley paces the team with 15.5 per night and he's second in the league behind Lachlan Bofinger with nine double-doubles, ranking third in the league with 8.7 rebounds. Jose Murillo leads the LSC with 1.36 blocks a game and Cougar Downing has the league's best three-point field goal percentage at 45.9.

Windex: For the fourth time this season, the Rattlers recorded more offensive than defensive rebounds in a game, when they had 22 offensive and 20 defensive in the win over Oklahoma Christian on Thursday. StMU out-rebounded the Eagles 42-to-26 in the contest. The Rattlers currently lead the Lone Star and rank eighth nationally with 15.13 o-boards per game.

All Tied Up: With the win over Oklahoma Christian, St. Mary's tied the school single season record for most conference wins at 15. Both the 1996-97 (15-1) and 2014-15 (15-5) teams share the record with 15 league victories, and the Rattlers have four more chances to break the mark.

Stepping Up: Senior Franklin Agu moved into the starting lineup last week and responded in glorious fashion, scoring a season-high 18 on Thursday and then posting his third double-double of the year with a career-best 27 points and season-high 12 rebounds against Cameron. Agu grabbed the 300th rebound of his StMU career on Saturday and was 9-for-12 from the free throw line, well above his 53% average for the season. 

Call Our Lawyer: Freshman Lawyer Jones has recorded 19 steals this season, with four in the last three games. He moves past his head coach, Bubba Meyer, for ninth on the all-time single season freshman list. Meyer had 16 in his first year in 1997-98. 

Getting the W's: With four games remaining in the regular season, the Rattlers have already won 18 games, the most since the 2014-15 team won 20 and advanced to the NCAA South Central Regional. The St. Mary's record for wins in a single season is 28 by the 1988-89 team that won the NAIA National Championship with a 28-5 record.

On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 39.75 rebounds per game, which would break the school's Division II era single-season record, which is currently held by the 2008-09 team which averaged 38.46 rebounds per game. The overall school record is 48.65 per night by the 1976-77 team.

Going Streaking: The 14 game winning-streak earlier this year by the Rattlers in Lone Star Conference play is the longest single-season conference winning streak in St. Mary's history, bettering the 12-straight the 1996-97 team won en route to the Heart of Texas Conference Championship. 

Double Trouble: Lachlan Bofinger recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 17 points and 17 rebounds in the double overtime win against UT Tyler. Bofinger leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 18th nationally with his 10 this season. His 24 career double-doubles also rank sixth among active Division II players, while his 9.3 rebounds per game are second among active players. 

Lone Star Leaders:
• Lachlan Bofinger leads the league in double doubles (10), defensive rebounds (6.77) and total rebounds per game (10.0). He also ranks second in offensive rebounds (3.18), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.90) and field goal percentage (52.0), eighth in assists (3.5) and blocks (0.95).
• Damani Claxton ranks fourth in scoring (16.8), seventh in free throw percentage (79.1), and 10th in field goal percentage (48.3) which is tops among guards.
• In addition to rebounds, the Rattlers lead in free throw attempts (25.5) and are second in field goal percentage defense (41.5), rebound margin (+6.7), and third in free throws made (15.7).

It's An Honor x 3: Junior guard Damani Claxton was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week after the team's wins over WNMU and SRS, while Lachlan Bofinger earned Offensive Player of the Week after the team defeated both Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M International to start 2025, and Defensive honors after the team swept the Oklahoma road trip.

Rewriting the Books: Damani Claxton has scored 403 points this season for an average of 16.79 per game, which ranks 23rd on the school's single season charts and fourth among Division II era players (since 2000). Lachlan Bofinger has 219 rebounds, tying for 29th on the all-time list and he's eighth on the DII era list. The 9.95 per game will rank second on the DII charts and 12th all-time.