KERRVILLE, Texas – The tight American Southwest Conference men's basketball race will head into a crucial week for the McMurry men's basketball team, as the squad plays at Schreiner University on Thursday. Start time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Four games separate third through eighth in the standings, where only the top four advance the the ASC tournament.

The game can be heard in the Abilene area on KZQQ 1560 AM.

The War Hawks (13-6, 9-6 ASC) are currently in a third place tie in the ASC West, after having dropped two-straight games. The Mountaineers (10-9, 8-7 ASC) are right behind McM in the standings, tied for fifth (along with Texas Lutheran, whom the War Hawks play on Saturday).

The last time these two teams met – just one week ago – McMurry came away with a 115-111 win in an overtime thriller not for the faint-hearted in Abilene.

Schreiner's triple-threat of Travis Pflughaupt (18.8 p.p.g.), Darren Smith (16.5 p.p.g.) and A.J. Myres (15.4 p.p.g.) lead the Mountaineers. Pflughaupt averages a double-double by also pulling down 10.4 rebounds per game.

McMurry will counter with Steven Jones – who played less than two minutes in Monday's loss at Hardin-Simmons after taking a hard fall in the TLU game last Saturday – at 16.2 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Bryce Hill has been red hot of late, bringing his average up to 14.3 p.p.g. Jaden Isler runs the floor from his point position, where he averages 12.9 points and 6.2 assists per game.

Alfred Perez, who started in place of Jones at Hardin-Simmons, had a career-best 22 points, hitting 8-of-10 from the field. Dominick Walker grabbed 19 rebounds (matching his own season high, also accomplished versus Hardin-Simmons in the first meeting of the season between the teams).

NOTES:
Bryce Hill's 27 points versus Schreiner was a season high for the senior … Hill notched his fifth game with 20+ points at Hardin-Simmons ... When Steven Jones was held to 8 points in the loss to TLU, it snapped a string of 19 double-figure scoring games dating back to the 2010-11 season by the senior forward ... In the latest NCAAA III statistics (thru games of Jan. 29), McMurry's team leads the nation in rebound margin, averaging 17.5 more boards per game than its foes … The McM team is also 9th in the nation in assists per game (18.2 a.p.g.) and 18th in steals per game (10.8 s.p.g.) … Individually, Jaden Isler is 12th in the nation in assists, while Bryant Taylor is 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (+2.83) … Hill is 10th in three-point fields goals made and 12th in three-point field goal percentage.