PHOTO | MEGAN GERBER

The West Texas A&M Men’s Basketball team concluded their regular season with a 15-12 overall record last Saturday with a win over Abilene Christian and now look forward into the post-season. The Buffaloes underwent many highs and lows this season, but hope for a conference championship this upcoming weekend.

“We are going to take the post-season one play at a time and see what happens,” said head coach Rick Cooper. “With this group of kids, we have a good chance to do well in post-season play. We are going to have to get better. We are going to have to take care of the basketball and be more consistent. I would like to think that we will be a factor in the race for the championship.”

The Buffaloes ended the season at a 6-6 mark in the Lone Star Conference. They were 5-1 at home and 1-5 on the road. This trend doesn’t differ in their season records, having a winning record of 12-1 on their home-court and a losing record of 3-9 away.

“We’ve had our strong points this season, and we’ve had our weak points,” said senior forward Bijan Dotson. “We’re great at home, but we struggle on the road. That is something that we need to improve on, especially with the conference tournament coming up.”

Dotson leads the Buffaloes in rebounds, totaling 159 for the season.

“I’m strong in rebounding and am another offensive and defensive threat for the team,” said Dotson. “I played a lot better this year than I did last year. Over my last four years in college, I’ve always improved.”

Leading the team in scoring with 340 points is senior guard Nick Burns. Burns also tops the leader board in assists (93), steals (44) and scoring average (12.6). Because Dotson and Burns are seniors, they will not be returning to the court next season.

“Nick and Bijan have both been very important to our success this year,” said Cooper. “They played major roles, but kids move on every year. I don’t know if you ever really replace kids like that. You just have to find kids that can step into that role and do what they had been able to do for us this year.”

Junior guard Joe Mincey shows promise for next season, having scored 314 points with a scoring average of 12.6. Mincey also poses a threat from the free-throw line averaging .805. Junior guard LaDarius Hall follows with 312 points tallied for the season with an 11.6 scoring average.

“We would like to see Joe Mincey, who has had a really good year, step into a leadership role,” said Cooper. “I think he will be a factor next year. LaDarius Hall, also another guard, had really good games and adjusted to the Division II level well.”

As a team, the Buffaloes hit a 72.5 scoring average this season, hitting .437 in field goals, .310 in three-pointers and .693 from the line. They also had a rebound average of 37.6 in their 27 games.

“We have had some really good moments as a team, and then we’ve had some moments that we would like to have over again,” said Cooper. “I may be a little disappointed in some past performances, but overall I feel very good about this group of guys and about this season.”

The Buffs currently stand at fourth place in the Lone Star Conference South Division.

“We want a conference championship,” said Dotson. “We all feel as if we have some payback for the teams we lost to this season, so we are going to play strong.”

The Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament will take place March 3-6 in Bartlesville, Okla.