A&M-Commerce (13-5, 2-4 LSC) at No. 4 Tarleton State (17-0, 6-0 LSC)
Saturday, February 1, 2014 • 7:00 p.m. 
Wisdom Gym (3,000) • Stephenville, Texas 
Radio: KETR 88.9 FM • Live Stats • Twitter: @Lion_MBB • Game Notes (PDF)

STORY LINES

• It will be a battle of the top two scoring teams in the Lone Star Conference on Saturday at Wisdom Gym when the Lions get their first shot at a nationally-ranked opponent this season when they take on Tarleton State.  

• Saturday will also be a match-up of the two winningest active coaches in the Lone Star Conference with A&M-Commerce's Sam Walker and Tarleton State's Lonn Reisman combining for 767 career victories.  

THE LAST TIME OUT
• LaDon Carnegie put in 23 points and the A&M-Commerce Lions snapped a three-game losing streak with a 93-84 win over West Texas A&M on Saturday at The Field House. The win also snapped a six-game losing streak for the Lions in the series with the Buffaloes. Carnegie finished with 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field, hitting all four three-point tries and five of six free throw attempts. He also added seven rebounds and five assists. A&M-Commerce put together its second straight strong offensive performance, hitting 55.8 percent from the floor, its second-highest field goal percentage of the season. They also managed to hit 11 of 18 from the three-point line, its most efficient game of the year from long distance.

UP NEXT
• A&M-Commerce will get consecutive shots to avenge earlier losses in Lone Star play next week when it hosts Cameron on Wednesday and travels to Midwestern State on Saturday. The Lions dropped  three-point decision in the waning seconds of the game at Cameron on Jan. 15, and lost the conference opener at home to the Mustangs, 84-73, on Jan. 4 at The Field House.  

QUICK HITS
• In their first four games in Lone Star Conference play, the Lions struggled from beyond the arc, hitting just 18 of 67 three-point tries (26.8 percent); however, they have righted the ship in their past two contests, canning 21 of 42 (50.0) tries from distance.

• Devondrick Walker set career highs with 27 points and six three-point buckets in the Lions' loss at ENMU. His 27 points is the most by a Lion in a single game this year, and just the fourth time in the past three seasons any Lion has totaled that much in a game since the 2011-12 campaign. He is averaging 16.2 points per game in his last five contests. 

• Sophomore center Christian Macauley is known for his defensive prowess, leading the Lone Star Conference with 2.7 blocks per game, but the big man was big on the offensive end in the Lions' win over West Texas A&M with a career-high 15 points, including hitting seven of 10 from the foul line.

• 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.

Series vs. TSU: A&M-Commerce leads, 29-28
Last 5 Meetings
2012-13    at Tarleton State         L     68-55
2012-13    TARLETON STATE    L     70-61
2011-12    at Tarleton State         L     78-53
2011-12    TARLETON STATE    L     73-69
2010-11    at Tarleton State         L     70-66                        

LAST MEETING
Tarleton completed its third straight season sweep of the Lions with a 68-55 win at Wisdom Gym, led by a career-high 25 points from Chucky Guy. The Lions got 19 points from Devondrick Walker and 12 from Preston Whitley, but never led in the game despite shooting a higher field goal and three-point percentage than the Texans. A&M-Commerce had 15 turnovers for the night, leading to a 17-8 TSU advantage in points off of turnovers, allowed 10 Texan offensive rebounds while the Texans made eight more shots from the charity stripe.
 
SERIES NOTES
Tarleton State has won the last seven meetings in its serise with the Lions and can tie up the all-time series at 29 wins apiece with a victory on Saturday. The series between the teams began in the 1962-63 season with A&M-Commerce winning 15 of the first 18 games. The Lions have never trailed or been tied in the series vs TSU since it began. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Saturday's game will pit two teams not only with the top win totals in the LSC, but teams at or near the top of multiple statistical categories in the Lone Star.

Here's a breakdown of where the Lions and Texans rank heading into the game:

Category (LSC Rank)          Scoring         Scoring Def      3pt PG      3pt%         FT%         Blocks
Tarleton State                         89.4 (1)             62.4 (1)           9.0 (1)     41.1 (1)   75.8 (1)      4.47 (1)
A&M-Commerce                   82.9 (2)             77.7 (2)            7.7 (3)     36.1 (4)   73.3 (2)      4.00 (2)

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DEVONDRICK NEARING ELITE COMPANY: In addition to Devondrick Walker's six threes in his 27-point outburst at Eastern New Mexico, the senior guard also canned all seven of his free throws, moving him closer to eligibility for the LSC and national lead in free throw percentage. He is currently 37 of 39 (94.9)  from the foul stripe this year, but needs to average 2.5 attempts per game to qualify for league and national leaders. He is currently averaging 2.16 attempts per game. Should he qualify and maintain his pace, his 94.9 percentage would be good enough to be the national leader and break Mike Micarelli's single-season free throw percentage mark at A&M-Commerce of 93.5 percent set in 1983-84.

WALL OF MACAULEY: In addition to his 9.4 points and 7.4 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 2.7 blocks per game after adding one 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 14 of A&M-Commerce's 18 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 nine games remaining in the season, Macauley will have to average 3.9 blocks per game the rest of the way to surpass Johnson's all-time total.

BUCKING THE TREND: In the Lions loss at Eastern New Mexico, the Lions dropped the game despite shooting a higher percentage from the field (47.2-36.1) than the Greyhounds, and winning the rebound battle (44-39). It is the first time since a 76-75 loss to A&M-Kingsville on Feb. 6, 2012, that the Lions dropped a game despite outshooting and outrebounding it's opponent - a span of 52 games.

CLOSE, BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH: The Lions' loss at Eastern New Mexico was also A&M-Commerce's third straight defeat by five points or less. It is the first time since the 1969-70 season that the Lions have dropped three straight LSC games by five or less points, and only the fourth time overall in that span.

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 219 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 548 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 364 three-point tries ranking second in the LSC. Still, they have managed to be efficient with them too, hitting at a cool 34.3 percent from three-point range, a mark that ranks fourth in the league. A&M-Commerce has made at least 10 threes in seven 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 44.4 percent.

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 17 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, it's game at Eastern New Mexico was the first time all season the Lions have allowed an opponent more free throws in a game. In all, the Lions 495 free throw attempts are second most in the LSC to only Tarleton State's 516, givng the Lions an average of more than 27 foul shots per game. They rank second in the league with a 73.2 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 10.2 more points in the second half and have made 34 more field goals and 125 more foul shots in the second half of games than in the opening period this season.