![\"St.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766373129_800_St-Edwards.png\")
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Next Game:<\/p>\n
at St. Edward’s University<\/p>\n
1\/2\/2026 | 7:30 P.M.<\/p>\n
\n Jan. 02 (Fri) \/ 7:30 P.M.
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<\/p>\n
\n at\u00a0St. Edward’s University
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History <\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n LAS VEGAS (December 21, 2025) – Lubbock Christian University senior forward Alex Anamekwe’s<\/a> putback at the buzzer led the No. 7 Chaparrals to an 88-87 win against \u00a0No. 12 West Liberty on Sunday at the South Point Arena in the Holiday Hoops Classic.\u00a0<\/p>\n LCU led by 12 points at halftime, but the Hilltoppers mounted a second-half comeback, outscoring their opponents 53-42. The game saw nine ties and six lead changes, with LCU securing the win as time expired, despite committing 21 turnovers.<\/p>\n Lubbock Christian heads into the Christmas break with a 12-2 overall record and is 3-1 in Lone Star Conference play. West Liberty falls to 8-2 overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chaparrals opened the with the game’s first six points, getting on the board with a jumper from Amondo Miller Jr.<\/a> They capitalized on strong shooting, going 19-for-30 from the field (.633), and never trailed in the opening period.\u00a0<\/p>\n A dunk from Anamekwe and a three-point play from Kendall Dow<\/a> with just over eight minutes to go in the half stretched the lead to double-digits for the first time. The lead never got wider than 12, and WLU actually cut it down to just six at the 4:23 mark, the Chaps ended the half on a 7-2 run, including a three-pointer from Leo Nordberg<\/a>, to lead 46\u201334 at the end of the half.\u00a0<\/p>\n Antonio Pusateri<\/a> contributed significantly in the opening period, scoring from both the field and the free-throw line, while the team dominated the boards with a 22-11 rebounding advantage.<\/p>\n The Hilltoppers flipped the script on the Chaps in the second half, outshooting them 50 percent to 44.1. WLU’s defense also turned it up a notch, with 12 forced turnovers. LCU’s lead dropped down to single-digits just two minutes in, and they had taken a lead by the under-12 media timeout thanks to an 8-0 run.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the teams trading punches the rest of the way, neither team got up by more than four. That lead was LCU’s with 6:05 remaining, but the Hilltoppers had pulled back even at 77-all just two minutes later.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a tense finish, Kendall Dow’s<\/a> layup tied the game at 85 at the 1:06 mark, and Pusateri’s free throws at 0:29 pushed LCU to an 86-85 advantage. WLU’s Hayden Abdullah briefly regained the lead with a tip-in with just seven seconds left, but Anamekwe’s buzzer-beating tip-in secured an 88-87 victory for the Chaparrals as the horn sounded.<\/p>\n Miller Jr. led the team with 27 points while also collecting 10 rebounds, demonstrating a strong presence on the court. Pusateri recorded 20 points and led with 18 rebounds, adding two blocks to his performance. Dow contributed 15 points, converting 6 of 10 field goals. Mercandino added 10 points and made one steal in his effort.<\/p>\n GAME NOTES: NEXT UP:
\n– Pusateri’s 18 boards would be the most in a single-game by a Lone Star Conference player this season, if he himself had not grabbed 21 rebounds in yesterday’s contest.
\n– Both Miller Jr. and Pusateri finished with double-doubles – the fifth of the season for the former and eighth for the latter.
\n– The Chaps finished the game shooting 53.1 percent from the field. It is their eighth game this season shooting better than 50 percent, but their first since Dec. 3 against UT Permian Basin.
\n– The Chaps out-rebounded the Hilltoppers 48-30 in the game, marking the fifth time this season with a rebound margin of double-digits.
\n– Reagan Fiedler<\/a> grabbed a career-high three rebounds in his 15 minutes off the bench and also added in five points.<\/p>\n
\nThis was the final game of the 2025 calendar year, as the Chaps will now go on Christmas break. LCU will return to action on Jan. 2 at St. Edward’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Next Game: at St. Edward’s University 1\/2\/2026 | 7:30 P.M.
Jan. 02 (Fri) \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-96685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-lubbock","9":"tag-lubbock-headlines","10":"tag-lubbock-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}