(SID)–Texas A&M-Commerce extended its home winning streak to four games with a 78-64 win over East Central on Wednesday night at the A&M-Commerce Field House.
The Lions (12-12, 5-4 Lone Star Conference North) landed four players in double figures in the Valentine’s Day win.
Kevin Widemond, who traditionally scores most of his points from beyond the arc, scored a team-high 17-eight of which came in the paint.
He was joined by Lance Jackson who added 16 for his fifth double-digit output in six contests; plus Lamar Searight and Bobby Joshua added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Tigers (10-14, 2-8 LSC North) got a game-high 22 from Jason Thomas, who made five three pointers in the loss. He was joined in double figures by Ian Adams and Terrell Carpenter, who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.
A&M-Commerce also got a spark off the bench from Cedric Griffin, who came up with four rebounds and dished out two assists in a season-high 21 minutes of action.
Despite the taller frontline of ECU, Texas A&M-Commerce avenged the Tigers in a few categories from the earlier meeting.
The Lions outrebounded the Tigers, 44-38 – earlier this year, the Tigers outrebounded the Lions by 22.
In addition, they outscored the Tigers by 20, 38-18 on points in the paint and in the earlier meeting, the Lions were outscored by 10, 28-18.
After an early 4-2 lead, A&M-Commerce trailed for most of the opening 20 minutes until an 11-2 run towards the closing minutes.
Behind 16-8 after a Thomas three pointer, scored seven second-chance points on an 11-2 run to take a 21-18 lead.
The Lions took the lead when Leonard Bishop snagged the ball away from the Tigers’ Brandon Bingle and came down the court to hit a three pointer and put the Lions ahead 21-18 with 5:25 left in the opening half.
The Tigers ended the half on an 8-3 run to take a 32-29 lead into the intermission.
Back-to-back three pointers by Widemond to start the second half put the Lions in front 35-32 with 19:33 left in the contest.
The two teams battled back and forth until a decisive 14-0 run put the Lions in front for the remainder of the contest.
Lions fall to ranked SOSU
The Texas A&M-Commerce men’s basketball team dropped an 86-82 decision to No. 5 Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday night at the Bloomer Sullivan Gymnasium on Saturday night.
Texas A&M-Commerce (12-13, 5-5 LSC North) had four players in double digits in the loss. Champ Sylvester had 17 points, Kevin Widemond added 14, Lance Jackson and Lamar Searight each scored 11 in the defeat.
The Lions led for the opening 5:10 of the contest but after a three pointer by Stampley gave the host Savage Storm an 11-8 advantage. SOSU never trailed for the remainder of the contest.
A&M-Commerce cut the deficit to 4, 28-24, with 4:55 left when Widemond made a three pointer.
However, the Savage Storm retaliated with a 12-0 run to take a 40-26 lead with 1:54 remaining in the opening stanza.
But, A&M-Commerce closed out the first half with a 7-0 run for a 40-31 halftime deficit.
To start the second half, the two teams exchanged baskets as the Savage Strom stretched their lead to 10 when Talley made back-to-back three pointers to go ahead 48-38 with 17:42 left in the contest.
A&M-Commerce retaliated with an 8-0 run to get within two, 48-46 with 15:31 remaining.
The Lions would not get any closer for the remainder of the contest. The Savage Storm took the lead to as much as 18 but the Lions continued to claw back into the contest.
The Lions now fall back again a game below .500 for the season.
After wednesdays game against Cameron University, the Lions will try to finish the season off on a good note.
Currently the Lions sit in third place in the Lone Star North Division Conference at 5-5.
First place belongs to Southeastern Oklahoma who has an overall record of 22-2 and are 10-0 in the LSC North.
Second belongs with Central Oklahoma with a 7-3 mark in conference play.
The regular season finale will be hosted by the Lions in the field house on Feb. 24 against Southwestern Oklahoma at 4 p.m.