The Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions snapped a two-game losing streak and earned a regular season sweep over the East Central (Okla.) Tigers with a 68-55 victory at the A&M-Commerce Field House on Saturday.?A&M-Commerce jumps to 10-14 overall and 5-4 in Lone Star Conference North Division play. East Central slips to 13-11 and 3-6.
“The big thing was the defense we played,” said Lions coach Sam Walker. “We played defense for 40 minutes.”?The A&M-Commerce defense held East Central to only 36.2 percent shooting from the floor and forced 15 turnovers, which the Lions turned into 22 points on the offensive end.?The first meeting between the two saw the Lions edge out a 75-74 victory over Tigers on Jan. 19, where A&M-Commerce guard Scooby Johnson was held to only 14 points.??Johnson bounced back in this second game with 25 points and nine rebounds. He was also 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“Scooby had a heck of a game,” said Walker.?Former Greenville Lion Justin Wilkerson helped the Tigers take a 31-28 lead at the break, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven boards.?”It was just a tough battle,” said Wilkerson, who finished with 16 points and nine boards.??
The Lions ran out on a 12-2 spurt to start the second half to take a 40-33 lead on a 3-pointer from Kevin Widemond.??Widemond scored 12 points in the second half, helping the Lions outscore the Tigers 40-24 in the period. He finished with 15 points.?Terrell Carpenter helped the Tigers stay close for much of the second half, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the period.?Leonard Bishop had the chore of covering Carpenter, the Tigers’ leading scorer for the season, and helped force 15 turnovers with three steals. Bishop filled up the stat sheet with five points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and sported white and pink shoes in the spirit of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association “Think Pink” week, which is out to raise the awareness of breast cancer.?The Lions also had to deal with the height of Tigers in the paint, who have two players at 6-10 and two others at 6-9.?A&M-Commerce outrebounded East Central 21-18 in the second half and 14-11 on the offensive end for the game. The Tigers outscored the Lions by only two points in the paint.
“We can’t go over em’, so we have to go around them,” said Walker. “As the game went on, we found a way to do that.”?Lions fall in double OT to Northeastern State
Staff Reports
Northeastern State guard Ricky Branham hit a three with 59.6 seconds left in the second overtime and the RiverHawks added five free throws to spoil a valiant come-from-behind effort by Texas A&M University-Commerce in a 76-68 win on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
After senior Scooby Johnson hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 68, Branham came down and hit the 3-pointer with four seconds left on the shot clock. Next, a Lions chance to tie it ended in an A&M-Commerce turnover. The RiverHawks managed to score the next five points for the win.
A&M-Commerce (9-14, 4-4 LSC North) Johnson scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half and in the two overtimes to go along with 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
Joining him in double figures was Kevin Widemond and Leonard Bishop, who scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Northeastern State (11-12, 4-4 LSC North) had three players in double figures including Steve Neal with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the win.