Men's Hoops Faces Hilltoppers for Third-Straight Game

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
vs St. Edward's • Friday, March 7 • 8:30 p.m.

St. Mary's (19-9, 16-6)
Head Coach: Bubba Meyer (31-25)
vs. St. Edward's (20-11, 14-8)
Head Coach: Andre Cook (282-187)
Broadcast: FloCollege

Third Time's a Charm: St. Mary's and St. Edward's meet on the hardwood for the third time in 10 days in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Championship. The Hilltoppers won both meetings during the regular season, winning by seven in Austin and by two on a last second shot on Saturday in San Antonio.

History with St. Edward's: The Rattlers own a 110-63 lead in the all-time series between the long-time rivals. The two teams have only met four times on a neutral court, with the Rattlers winning three of the four. 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 an 8-4 edge in games since the two teams joined the Lone Star Conference.

Scouting the Hilltoppers: The two wins over the Rattlers gave St. Edward's the fifth-seed in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. They are 20-11 overall and finished 14-8 in conference play. Gavino Ramos leads a quartet of 'Toppers in double figures in scoring with 14.1 points. He also ranks second in the LSC in assists (4.5) and third in free throw percentage (84.4). Lewis Rowe paces the team with 6.1 rebounds and is second in the league with a 55.4 field goal percentage. St. Ed's ranks third in the nation with a 40.5 percentage from beyond the arc and they have six players who have drained more than 15 this year.

LSC Tournament History: This is the third time the Rattlers have qualified for the Lone Star Conference Championship, as they played in both 2022 and 2023, falling to Texas A&M-Kingsville in the quarterfinals both times. Only senior Diego Gonzalez has experience at the league tournament, as he played almost 19 minutes against the Javelinas, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.

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 487 points this season, which ties Elliott Henderson (1991-92) for 17th on the St. Mary's single-season charts. It is the third-most points scored during the school's Division II era. Kevin Kotzur holds the top two spots, scoring 550 as a senior and 501 as a junior in 2011-12.

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 252 rebounds, passing last year's total of 247 to tie for 14th on the StMU single-season chart. He ties Kevin Kotzur for the second-most in the school's DII era and now holds two of the top four spots since 1999-00.

 Windex: Seven times in 2024-25, the Rattlers have recorded 20 or more offensive rebounds in a contest. The 22 boards from the win at  ENMU 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 15.11 per game to rank ninth in the nation and lead the Lone Star Conference. The 15.11 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 103 blocked shots this season, moving into sixth all-time jumping up five spots. 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.

Stepping Up: Senior Franklin Agu moved into the starting lineup three weeks ago and has responded with five of  games in double digits in the scoring column and three of double-doubles. During this stretch, Agu is averaging 14.67 points, 8.67 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

Lawyer Up: Freshman Lawyer Jones added four more steals to his total with two in each of the 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 39.82 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 11th double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds at St. Edward's. Bofinger leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 20th nationally with his 11 this season. His 25 career double-doubles also rank seventh among active Division II players, while his 9.2 rebounds per game are eighth among active players. 

Lone Star Leaders:

• Lachlan Bofinger leads the league in double doubles (11), defensive rebounds (6.62) and total rebounds per game (9.7). He also ranks second in offensive rebounds (3.08), seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76) and field goal percentage (50.8) and eighth in blocks (0.88), and assists (3.4).

• Damani Claxton ranks third in scoring (17.4), sixth in free throw percentage (79.7), 7th in field goal percentage (50.8) which is tops among guards and ninth in steals (1.57).

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.