Men's Basketball Wraps Up Regular Season with Hilltoppers

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
vs St. Edward's • Wednesday, February 26 • 7:30 p.m.  & Saturday, March 1 • 3 p.m.
St. Mary's (19-7, 16-4)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (31-23)
vs. St. Edward's (18-11, 12-8)
Head Coach: Andre Cook (280-187)
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: (Home) Dan Hawkins (Road) Justin Simmons

 

Wrapping Up the Regular Season: St. Mary's Men's Basketball concludes the regular season by squaring off with rival St. Edward's twice. The teams play Wednesday in Austin before finishing up on Saturday inside Bill Greehey Arena for Senior Night. The Rattlers hold a 3-0 edge this season in the annual Battle of the Saints with StMU picking up points in men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball during the fall.

History with St. Edward's: The Rattlers own a 110-61 lead in the all-time series between the long-time rivals. The two teams have split the season series each of the last four years, with each team 2-2 on their home courts. The series dates back to 1937 where the Hilltoppers won the first two games. The teams skipped 10-years, next playing in 1947 and they've played every season since. St. Ed's holds a slight 6-4 edge in games since the two teams joined the Lone Star Conference.

Scouting the Hilltoppers: St. Edward's sits in sixth place in the Lone Star Conference standings with an 18-11 overall record and a mark of 12-8 in conference play. They are one of five teams battling for the final four spots in the league tournament. Gavino Ramos leads a quartet of Goats in double figures in scoring with 13.8 points. He also ranks second in the LSC in assists (4.5) and fourth in free throw percentage (84.4). Lewis Rowe paces the team with 5.9 rebounds and is third in the league with a 56.1 field goal percentage. St. Ed's ranks third in the nation with a 40 percent percentage from beyond the arc and they have six players who have drained more than 15 this year.

Guaranteed: St. Mary's has clinched a spot in the upcoming Lone Star Conference Championship, and the Rattlers are guaranteed one of the top four seeds in the eight-team tournament. DBU, Lubbock Christian and Midwestern State have also clinched seeds and have claimed a top-four seed, but the order is still up for grabs the final week.

Senior Spotlight: On Saturday, the Rattlers will honor a quintet of seniors on the team in Franklin Agu, Lachlan Bofinger, Diego Gonzalez, Sebastian Mendoza and Ryan Salinas. Agu enters this week needing five points for 500 in his two years with the Rattlers, 319 rebounds and two double-doubles in his previous three games. Bofinger has 826 points, 694 rebounds, 171 assists, 60 blocks and 62 steals in his fifth year. Gonzalez has 187 points, 91 rebounds, 51 assists and 68 steals in his third year with the team. Mendoza has made a big impact in his first year with the Gold and Blue and enters this week with 443 points, 207 rebounds, 93 assists and 48 steals in his career. Ryan Salinas is the only four-year senior on the club, playing in 15 games as a walk-on with nine points and two assists.

Attacking the Basket: Junior guard Damani Claxton has shown time and again he can score points quickly and in bunches, and he did so again last week in both games. Claxton scored 10 points in a 1:06 stretch late against WT as the Rattlers cut the deficit from seven to two, 87-75, with 17 seconds remaining. At ENMU on Saturday

Windex: For the seventh time in 2024-25, the Rattlers recorded 20 or more offensive rebounds in a contest when they grabbed 22 in the win at Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. The 22 boards tie for the second-highest total this season, trailing only the 24 at Midwestern State on Nov. 21. It is the fifth time this year they've grabbed 22 and the team averages 15.12 per game to rank ninth in the nation and lead the Lone Star Conference. The 15.12 ranks fifth on the StMU single season charts and is the highest average in the school's Division II era.

Made to be Broken: The win at Eastern New Mexico is the 16th conference victory for the Rattlers this season, establishing 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.

Block Party: St. Mary's has 93 blocked shots this season, needing one more to tie for ninth on the single-season list. Both the 2002-03 and the 2021-22 teams are tied for ninth with 94 swats. The 2008-09 club holds the record with 125 blocked shots. Senior Lachlan Bofinger leads the team with 21 and a total of eight players have more than five this season.

Stepping Up: Senior Franklin Agu moved into the starting lineup two weeks ago and has responded with four straight games in double digits in the scoring column and a pair of double-doubles. During this stretch, Agu is averaging 18.25 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.75 assists per game.

Call Our Lawyer: Freshman Lawyer Jones has recorded 19 steals this season, moving 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. 

On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 39.77 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 20th 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 (6.54) and total rebounds per game (9.7). He also ranks second in offensive rebounds (3.13), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.88), eighth in field goal percentage (50.8) and blocks (0.88), and ninth in assists (3.4).

• Damani Claxton ranks second in scoring (17.5), seventh in free throw percentage (79.2), and 11th in field goal percentage (48.4) which is tops among guards.

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 456 points this season for an average of 17.54 per game, which ranks 20th on the school's single season charts and fourth among Division II era players (since 2000). Lachlan Bofinger has 232 rebounds, moving into 24th on the all-time list and he's eighth on the DII era list. The 9.67 per game will rank second on the DII charts and 15th all-time.