Senior guard Lamar Searight sank two free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining to hand Central Oklahoma its first conference loss in Lone Star Conference North Division play of the season, 64-63, on Wednesday at the A&M-Commerce Field House.”I actually thought we played better Saturday then we did today. We just played really good defense, offensively we had 24 turnovers. I haven’t had a team have that many turnovers in the second semester. On the defensive end everybody played so hard,” said Sam Walker, A&M-Commerce head men’s basketball coach. Trailing by one, 63-62 after UCO’s Eric Cazenave connected on 1-of-2 free throws to give the Bronchos a 63-62 lead with 22 seconds left in regulation. Searight dribbled the ball up the court, drove past his defender and was fouled with 3.7 seconds remaining. Searight connected on both free throws to give the Lions a 64-63 lead. After the Bronchos called timeout with 1.9 seconds left in the contest, UCO was unable to get off a last-chance effort.Junior forward Champ Sylvester scored a team-high 14 points and Searight added 12 to lead the Lions to the dramatic victory. Plus, off the bench, junior forward Lance Jackson chipped in ten points and shot 5-of-5 from the field, in the win. The Lions raise their record to 9-10 overall and 2-2 in the Lone Star Conference North.The Bronchos were led by the Lone Star Conference’s fourth-leading scorer, Anthony Brown, who finished the night with a game-high 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting and nine rebounds. UCO falls to 13-5 overall and 3-1 in the LSC North.A&M-Commerce opened the game on the strength of a 7-0 run which included four points from Sylvester in the first five minutes of the contest. The Lions led by as many as 11, 21-10, but Central Oklahoma answered back with a 19-3 run of their own to take a 29-24 advantage, en route to a 32-30 halftime lead.Sylvester led A&M-Commerce with seven first-half points, as all nine Lions players scored in the first 20 minutes. The Lions outscored Central Oklahoma 16-10 in the paint and collected nine points off of 14 Broncho turnovers in the first half.A&M-Commerce stormed back near the beginning of the second half using a 10-0 run to take a 42-36 advantage with 13:54 remaining in the contest. Sylvester drained a three and hit a mid-range jumper to give the Lions their first lead since the 4:54 mark of the first half. UCO managed to get the A&M-Commerce lead to one on a pair of occasions before tying the contest at 62 on a Brown layup with 1:28 remaining in the game. Next, the Bronchos forced an A&M-Commerce turnover and took their first lead since the 15:40 mark in the second half when Cazenave made a free throw with 22 seconds left.”I think we played good we needed to come together. We had a tough lost last game so we needed this win,” said Brad Brickens, Lion senior guard.
Southeastern defeats Lions
Despite a team-high 17 points from Lamar Searight, Texas A&M-Commerce suffered a 90-71 setback to regionally and nationally-ranked Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at the A&M-Commerce Field House. Searight led three Lions in double-figures, as junior forward Champ Sylvester and junior guard Kevin Widemond each scored 15 points. Senior forward Bobby Joshua shared team-high honors with seven rebounds, to go with six points and four assists. Southeastern Oklahoma State connected on 56% of their field goals and finished the contest with four players in double figures. The Savage Storm’s Kyric Rambo had a game-high 28 points and connected on 8-of-8 three-pointers to pace SOSU. Matt White and Eric Babers each scored 17 points and Jason Stampley added 16 for the Savage Storm. With the loss the Lions drop to 8-10 on the season and 1-3 in the Lone Star Conference North Division. Following the victory, Southeastern Oklahoma State moved their record to 16-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the LSC North Division. The Lions scored 23 points off of 20 Savage Storm turnovers and scored 19 second-chance points. A&M-Commerce shot 39% from the floor and connected on 30% of their three-point attempts in the defeat.