FRISCO, Texas – It took extra time to decide a winner in the opening round of the 2025 Lone Star Conference men's basketball tournament. (2) No. 21 Lubbock Christian earned a 79-78 victory over (7) Eastern New Mexico at the Comerica Center.

"I'm proud of our team's toughness," said head coach Daven Võ after the game. "We were down a couple bodies, and we had some guys step up."

One of the student-athletes who made a major impact in the game was sophomore Austin Abrams. The Maryland native had a team best 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including connecting on a trio of three point shots.

The Hounds needed that type of offensive output as senior guard Cougar Downing left the court midway through the game with an injury. Over 18 minutes of play, Downing scored eight points and earned two steals.

Bench support was a helpful spark for Eastern New Mexico. They outscored Lubbock Christian in that category, 29-8. Mo Austin was another top contributor to ENMU on both ends of the court. The Pueblo, Colo. native scored eight points on 3-of-6 shooting. He provided strong support pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.

ENMU started out the game with an early layup from Jose Murillo. That helped Eastern keep the lead or stay with a tie for the first six minutes of the contest. From there, Lubbock Christian took the advantage and extended a lead to eight points (18-10) with 9:34 left in the opening half. The Chaps would take an even larger lead (28-17) with 5:35 to go in the first half.

At halftime, LCU led 34-27.

Eastern New Mexico caught two quick looks inside to begin the second half and cut the LCU lead to three points over the first two minutes. However, Lubbock Christian made a couple early three point shots to extend the lead (44-33) with 16:07 remaining.

Then, ENMU went on a 14-0 run. Ten of the team's 14 points were scored by bench players - Abrams or Austin.

With 11:27 to go in regulation, Eastern now held a 47-44 advantage. Over the next three minutes, the tide shifted towards LCU as they picked up a 56-51 lead with 8:03 to go. On LCU's ensuing possession, they managed to attempt three three-point shots courtesy of two clutch offensive rebounds. However, in the Greyhounds favor, all three shots missed. Over the closing minutes, the lead would change nine times.

Lubbock Christian hit a clutch three pointer with 33 seconds left in regulation to take a two point lead. Abrams helped the team by connecting on the game-tying layup and helped the program send the contest into overtime.

The overtime period started out in an ideal way for LCU. The Chaps earned an offensive rebound on a missed three pointer and it was converted into a two point bucket. Eastern responded with a three pointer from Abrams and the teams continued to trade leads for the remainder of the overtime period.

LCU pulled ahead (79-78) thanks to a pair of free throws from Jaylen Thompson with 34 seconds remaining. Eastern missed two shots in the closing seconds and the Chaps earned the one-point victory in overtime.

Eastern New Mexico's postseason fate is uncertain as the Greyhounds wait for the 2025 NCAA DII bracket to be released. The show will air on NCAA.com at 9 p.m. MT.