FRISCO, Texas—St. Edward's men's basketball team closed out its season with an 80-67 loss to the Lubbock Christian Chapparals in the Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinals. 
 
BLAKE NIELSEN led three Hilltoppers in double figures with 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists, but the Hilltoppers surrendered 57.4 percent shooting from the field, including 9-for-17 from beyond the 3-point line. (52.9 percent). 
 
St. Edward's struggled early against a Lubbock Christian defense that defended on-ball screens without sending a third defender and walled up on SEAN ELKINTON's post-ups. At the same time, the Hilltopper offense stagnated around the primary actions. 
 
BLAKE NIELSEN was able to generate some downhill pressure and paint touches for St. Edward's with a floater and offensive putback, followed by a GAVINO RAMOS coast-to-coast layup, then a Ramos drive through the seams to pull the Hilltoppers back to within 10-8. 
 
Elkinton picked up his second foul nearly eight minutes into the game and exited the half. St. Edward's turned to its bench without its leading scorer and got quality minutes from ALEU ALEU, JAMISON KAY, and CONOR MCMANUS. 
 
Aleu sparked the Hilltoppers with a driving layup, followed by a pick-and-pop jumper from Ramos to Kay for a 3-pointer.
 
After an Aaron Gonzales layup, the Hilltoppers rattled off a 7-0 run. Ramos opened the run with a driving layup, followed by an Aleu short jumper in the paint, and McManus capped it off with a 3-pointer after St. Edward's forced a shot-clock violation to give the Hilltoppers their first lead at 20-18 with 7:32 remaining in the half. 
 
Lubbock Christian retook the momentum with a 10-2 run before the break, capped off by two Ethan Duncan 3-pointers to give the Chaps a 32-28 lead at the half. 
 
Nielsen and Ramos led St. Edward's with eight points each, Aleu scored six off the bench, and Kay and McManus each hit a 3-pointer. Duncan led Lubbock Christian with 10 points, and Kurt Wegscheider added seven with six rebounds as LCU's top two scorers.  
 
Both teams traded buckets over the first ten minutes of the second half until Lubbock Christian gained some separation with a 7-0 run capped off with a Ty Caswell 3-pointer to go up double figures at 59-47 with 8:38 remaining. 
 
Nielsen kept his steady play with nine points on six shots and four assists after the break, and Elkinton found his footing with 15 points on 12 shots and four rebounds. However, St. Edward's shot just 3-for-10 from deep, while Lubbock Christian guards Duncan and Najeeb Muhammad got loose for a combined 28 points after the break. 
 
Nielsen finished 8-for-12 from the field, and Elkinton bounced back from a rough first half with 15 points and five rebounds. Ramos scored in double figures with 12 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Duncan led LCU with 23 points, hitting all four of his 3-pointers. Muhammad added 15 points, Wegscheider scored 13, and Caswell finished with 11.
 
St. Edward's wraps up its season with a 21-11 record, three all-conference players, and two all-academic team awards.