Men's Basketball Returns to NCAA Regional After 10 Years

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
vs Lubbock Christian • Saturday, March 15 • 12 p.m.
St. Mary's (19-10, 16-6)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (31-26)

vs. Lubbock Christian (25-8, 18-4)
Head Coach: Todd Duncan (269-142)

Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Reagan Ratcliff
FOR PARKING INFORMATION AT DBU, PLEASE CLICK THE LINK TO THE RIGHT

NCAA Bound: St. Mary's returns to the NCAA Regionals after a 10-year absence. The team will be playing in the 10th NCAA Tournament, earning bids in 2001, 2003-2005, 2008 and 2012-2015. The Rattlers will face Lone Star foe Lubbock Christian in the First Round. StMU defeated LCU 74-69 during the regular season on November 23.

History with Lubbock Christian: The Rattlers trail 12-6 in the all-time series with the Chaps, and the two teams have never met in the postseason. StMU snapped an eight-game losing skid to LCU with the 74-69 win in Lubbock back in November. The clubs have only played once on a neutral court, an 86-64 win for the Rattlers on Dec. 4, 1992 in Plainview on the campus of Wayland Baptist.

Scouting the Chaps: Lubbock Christian finished as the runner-up at the Lone Star Conference Tournament and are 25-8 on the season. LCU ranks fourth in the nation and leads the LSC in free throw percentage at 80.2 and they are 18th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 66.1 points per game. Ethan Duncan, the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year, averages 16.3 points per game to rank sixth in the league. He is also third in three-point field goal percentage at 41.9 percent.

The Rest of the Field: St. Mary's has faced all seven teams in the eight-team regional this season, going 3-8 with wins over top-seeded DBU, third-seeded Lubbock Christian and eighth-seeded Regis. 

D2CCA Honors: Both senior Lachlan Bofinger and junior Damani Claxton earned D2CCA South Central All-Region Second Team honors. The pair have led the Rattlers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years and combine to average 30.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.6 steals per game and were both honored on the Lone Star All-Conference First Team. They are the first basketball players at St. Mary's to earn All-Region honors since Marvin Binney was an NABC Second-Team honoree in 2014-15, and it is the first time in the school's NCAA history two players have earned honors in the same season.

Newcomer of the Year: Junior guard Damani Claxton was named the Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year in a vote by the league's head coaches. He and senior forward Lachlan Bofinger were both honored on the All-Conference First Team. Claxton is the first Rattler to be named Newcomer of the Year since Marvin Binney earned the award in 2013-14 in the Heartland Conference. It is also the first time since 2004-05 the Rattlers have had two players named to the First Team when J.J. Edwards and Henry Hernandez each got it for the Heartland Conference.

Moving On Up: Junior Damani Claxton has 504 points this season, moving him up two spots into 15th on the St. Mary's single-season charts. 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.

Unique Perspective: Head Coach Bubba Meyer is the only coach in the South Central Region field who played at his alma mater, and played in this very regional tournament. As a senior, Meyer helped lead the Rattlers to their first-ever NCAA Regional in the team's first season of postseason eligibility in 2001. Meyer played 38 of the team's 40 minutes in the team's 67-55 loss to West Texas A&M.

Scoring Tandems: Lachlan Bofinger and Damani Claxton have combined to score 866 points this season. That is the 13th most by any tandem in St. Mary's history and the third-most since joining the NCAA. In 1988-89 Anthony Houston and Ronald Thomas poured in 1,163 points for the school record, while Kevin Kotzur and Daryell Taylor combined for 981 points in 2012-13 for the DII era mark. 

Key to His Success: Senior Lachlan Bofinger has said if the game isn't going your way you can always crash the boards and the proof is in the pudding as Bofinger has 262 rebounds, moving up to 14th on the StMU single-season chart and taking over sole possession of second in the DII era. Kevin Kotzur grabbed 323 rebounds in 2012-13 for the most since 2000. Bofinger leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 20th in the nation with 9.7 rebounds per game.

Windex: Eight times in 2024-25, the Rattlers have recorded 20 or more offensive rebounds in a contest. The team averages 15.28 per game to rank eighth in the nation and lead the Lone Star Conference on the offensive glass. The 15.28 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 16 victories for the Rattlers this 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.

Block Party: St. Mary's has 107 blocked shots this season, moving into fourth all-time, climbing two more spots after the Lone Star Tournament. The 2008-09 club holds the record with 125 blocked shots. Senior Lachlan Bofinger leads the team with 23 and a total of nine players have more than five this season.

Lawyer Up: Freshman Lawyer Jones added four more steals to his total with two in each of the regular season games against St. Edward's and now has 23 for the year, which moves him into seventh on the freshman single season list, passing both Dominique Richardson (2004-05) and Albert Gant (1993-94). His next theft will tie him with Rod Bellard (2005-06) for sixth among freshman.

On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 39.83 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 12th double-double of the season with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference tournament against St. Edward's. Bofinger leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 17th nationally with his 12 this season. His 26 career double-doubles also rank seventh among active Division II players, and are the second-most in school history, trailing only the 47 by Kevin Kotzur (2009-13).

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.