A&M-Commerce (12-4, 1-3 LSC) at Eastern New Mexico (8-7, 2-2 LSC)
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 • 7:30 p.m. 
Greyhound Arena (4,800) • Portales, N.M. 
Radio: KETR 88.9 FM • Live Stats • Twitter: @Lion_MBB • Game Notes (PDF)

STORY LINES
• The Lions have dropped the first two legs of a three-game road swing by a combined five points, but have one more chance to pick up its first road win of Lone Star Conference play on Wednesday when they travel to Portales, N.M., for a meeting with the Greyhounds. 

THE LAST TIME OUT
• Will Cook hit a pair of foul shots with 27.6 seconds left and the A&M-Commerce Lions came up empty on their final two possessions to give the Aggies a 69-66 win at Aggie Gym on Wednesday night. The win gives the Aggies their first 3-0 start in conference play in league history and extended their home win streak over the Lions to four games. It is the first time the Lions have dropped consecutive games this season. After trailing by four points at the half and as much as nine in the second half, the Lions managed to take its first lead since the first three minutes of the game with 8:35 to go, and held a one-point lead in the game's final minute on a lay-up from Devondrick Walker; however, the Aggies' Will Cook converted a pair of foul shots to put the Aggies back ahead by a point, and then the Lions' Tyrie Wooten was called for an offensive foul with 5.8 seconds to play to turn the ball back over.

UP NEXT
• The schedule does not let up as January comes to a close. The Lions do play two of their next three games at The Field House, with games against West Texas A&M on Jan. 25 and a rematch with Cameron on Feb. 5; however, sandwiched between those two is a trip to Stephenville on Feb. 1 for a meeting with nationally-ranked Tarleton State.  

QUICK HITS
• The Lions got off to an 8-0 start to the season, the second best start to a season for A&M-Commerce in program history. Currently the squad stands at 12-4 on the year, a mark just one game worse than the best 16-game start under Sam Walker - a 13-3 record by the 2004-0-5 squad. 

• Since the calendar turned to 2014, the Lions are still searching to find their stroke from the field. They shot 40.7 percent last week at Cameron, the first time in four tries in league play in which they have shot above the 40-percent mark. In the first 12 games of the season, A&M-Commerce shot under 40 percent from the field just twice.

• Wednesday's three-point loss at Cameron gave A&M-Commerce consecutive losses by three points or less in Lone Star Conference play for the first time since the 2003-04 season when they fell to Abilene Christian (68-65) and Angelo State (75-73).

Series vs. ENMU: A&M-Commerce leads, 38-18
Last 5 Meetings
2012-13    at Eastern N.M.    L     88-85
2012-13    EASTERN N.M.   W    84-77
2011-12    at Eastern N.M.    W    67-62 (ot)
2011-12    EASTERN N.M.   W    88-77
2010-11    at Eastern N.M.    W    94-67                        

Last Meeting
Eastern New Mexico's Jordan Romero scored a career--high 25 points and the Greyhounds held on for an 88-85 win over the Lions on Senior Day in Portales, in a game that was the regular-season finale for both teams. ENMU hit 11 three-point buckets in the game and finished 21-for-26 at the foul line. Devondrick Walker scored a team-high 19 points for the Lions, hitting all three of his shots from beyond the arc and going 6-for-6 from the foul line. Andrew Davis added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Kenny Brown had a solid night with eight points and nine rebounds.
 
Series Notes
Last year's 88-85 Greyhound win in Portales put an end to an 11-game Lion win streak in the series, one dominated by the Lions 38-18. That win streak dated back to the 2004-05 season with five of those victories coming in Portales. The Greyhounds have not won in Commerce since sweeping the season series in 2003-04. 

WALL OF MACAULEY: In addition to his 9.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, A&M-Commerce big man Christian Macauley has been stellar as the Lions' last line of defense. The junior from Washington D.C. leads the Lone Star Conference with 2.8 blocks per game after adding two more to his season total at Cameron. He has at least one block in every game this season for the Lions, with multiple blocks in 13 of A&M-Commerce's 16 games to date. Lee Johnson holds the single-season school record with 84 blocks (2.8 bpg), set in 1978-79. With a minimum of 11 games remaining in the season, Macauley will have to average 3.5 blocks per game the rest of the way to surpass Johnson's all-time total.

WALKER ADDS TO WIN TOTAL: Head coach Sam Walker became the all-time winningest coach in A&M-Commerce history last season with his 202nd victory, pushing him past former Lion head coach Jim Grudger, and in two less seasons. He now continues to distance himself from the other 19 coaches in Lion history with 218 victories to his credit. His win total is second among current coaches in the Lone Star Conference, trailing only Tarleton State's Lonn Reisman's 543 victories.

CALLING LONG DISTANCE: The Lions have not been afraid to step out and let it fly from beyond the arc this season with its 348 three-point tries ranking second in the LSC. Still, they have managed to be efficient with them too, hitting at a cool 34.4 percent from three-point range, a mark that ranks fourth in the league. A&M-Commerce has made at least 10 threes in six games this year with a season-high 12 in a six-point win over Southern Arkansas on November 13. In all, four Lions with at least 30 three-point tries are hitting better than 34 percent of those shots, led by LaDon Carnegie's 45.5 percent.

WOOTEN'S FREE THROW STREAK: Tyrie Wooten went 10-for-10 from the foul line in the Lion's win over A&M-Kingsville, a mark tied for the third-best single-game free throw effort in the Lone Star this season, but it's not even tops on his own team, trailing LaDon Carnegie's 11-for-11 effort in the second game of the season vs Oklahoma Panhandle State. Currently, Wooten is riding a streak of 22 straight makes from the foul line dating back to January 4 against Midwestern State.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT: Halftime deficits have not been much of an issue for A&M-Commerce this season. The Lions have found themselves down at the break of nine of its 16 games, coming back to win in five of those games. It's largest deficit over come of the season was a 15-point margin in its 71-68 win over Henderson State.

ACCEPTING CHARITY: The Lions are doing their fare share of getting to the foul line. In fact, A&M-Commerce has shot more free throws than its opponent in all but one game, and that game saw both the Lions and Southern Arkansas shoot 34 apiece. In all, the Lions 409 free throw attempts are second most in the LSC to only Tarleton State's 411, givng the Lions an average of more than 27 foul shots per game. They rank second in the league with a 73.8 free-throw percentage as a team. 

BETTER AS THEY GO: A&M-Commerce has managed to overcome five of nine halftime deficits this season for victories, and when you look at the numbers, it is no surprise. Despite lower efficiency from the field and the foul line, the Lions are avearging 11.2 more points in the second half and have made 34 more field goals and 119 more foul shots in the second half of games than in the opening period this season.

                First Half       Second Half           
PTS            35.7                    46.9
FGs        204/477             238/554   
FG%          42.8                    43.0
3pt%          36.3                    32.5
FTs          101/138            220/301
FT%           73.2                     73.1