A&M-Commerce (14-7, 3-6 LSC) at A&M-Kingsville (7-14, 2-7 LSC)
Saturday, February 13, 2014 • 8:00 p.m. 
Hampton Inn Court (4,000) • Kingsville, Texas 
Radio: KETR 88.9 FM • Live Stats • Twitter: @Lion_MBB • Game Notes (PDF)

STORY LINES
• The Lions have alternated wins and losses in their last four games, and will need that form to hold true on Thursday if they want to keep pace in the Lone Star Conference race when they head to South Texas for a road meeting with A&M-Kingsville.

• A&M-Commerce is still searching for its first road win in Lone Star Conference play, having started off the league slate 0-5. The Lions will be looking to avoid its second start of at least 0-6 in league road games in the last three seasons. 

THE LAST TIME OUT
•  LaDon Carnegie scored 22 points, but Midwestern State hit 11 three-pointers and dominated the offensive glass in picking up a 75-63 win over A&M-Commerce on Saturday at Ligon Coliseum. The Lions trailed just 38-30 at the half, but Midwestern State connected on seven of its 13 three-point tries in the second period and never trailed in the final period, leading by as much as 18. A&M-Commerce shot 44.4 percent from the field, compared to just 40.6 for MSU, but the Mustangs attempted 19 more shots from the field, thanks in large part to a 17-5 edge on the offensive glass and 14 Lion turnovers.

UP NEXT
• The Lions return home on Wednesday to close out its season series with Angelo State at The Field House. A&M-Commerce overcame a 20-point ASU lead in the second half in the team's first meeting on Jan. 12 in San Angelo, just to see the Rams score in the final five seconds of the game to pull out hte two-point victory. 

QUICK HITS
• The Lions are hitting at 47.7 percent (43 of 90) from three-point range in their last five games. 

• The Lions are 12-2 this year when outrebounding its opponent.

• Kameron Price had eight assists against Cameron on Saturday, the most by a Lion this season and the most by an A&M-Commerce player since Tyrie Wooten had 10 vs Tarleton State last season. 

• Both Devondrick Walker and LaDon Carnegie are averaging 14.4 points per game in LSC play to lead the Lions and rank sixth among LSC players. 

• A&M-Commerce is hitting 73.2 percent of its foul shots as a team in LSC play, leading the league in free throw percentage and made free throws (197).

• 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. TAMUK: A&M-Commerce leads, 64-53
Last 5 Meetings
2013-14    A&M-KINGSVILLE        W     68-66
2012-13    A&M-KINGSVILLE        W     77-70
2012-13    at A&M-Kingsville          L      75-69
2011-12    A&M-KINGSVILLE         L     76-65
2010-11    A&M-KINGSVILLE         L     104-94 (3 OT)                        

LAST MEETING
A&M-Commerce held off a hot-shooting A&M-Kingsville group in the game's final minute for a 68-66 win, it's first in in Lone Star Conference play at The Field House. The Lions hit 16 of its 20 foul shots in the second half, including nine of 10 in the final 2:09 to withstand a Javelina team playing its first game since December 18. Still, you would never know the Javelinas had been off for three weeks, tying a season-high with 10 three-point buckets, including three in the game's final two minutes to erase what was an eight-point Lion lead late in the game.
 
SERIES NOTES
Kingsville has been a house of horrors for Lions since the turn of the century, going just 1-9 at Hampton Inn Court since 2000-01, including seven consecutive losses. The Lions will be going for their first win over the Javelinas in Kingsville since a 85-72 win in 2002-03, and its first three-game win streak in the series since winning four straight from 1997-99. 

SCORING WITH THE BEST: Points have not been hard to come by this season for the Lions, ranking second in the Lone Star Conference with an 81.7 per-game average. To date, that is the second highest-scoring team head coach Sam Walker has ever had, just behind his 2006-07 team who averaged 81.9 points per contest. 

RELYING ON CHARITY: The Lions are doing their fair share of getting to the foul line. In fact, their 72.9 percent mark at the line is only behind Tarleton's 73.3 percent among LSC teams, and their 595 attempts are just 19 less than the Texans. Coach Sam Walker has had four previous teams in his tenure go over the 70-percent mark as a team from the line, with none higher than the 2006-07 squad's 73.9 percent. The school record for free-throw percentage in a season is 75.9 in 1966-67.

DEVONDRICK NEARING ELITE COMPANY: Devondrick Walker has stepped up his game in LSC play in his senior season, hitting for at least 11 points in seven of the Lions' nine games, averaging 14.5 points per game in league contests. He is also currently 43 of 45 (95.6)  from the foul stripe this year, but needs to average 2.5 makes per game to qualify for league and national leaders. He is currently averaging just 2.04 makes per game, but if he qualifies nationally and maintain his pace, his 95.6 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 9.5 points and 7.2 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  and ranks seventh nationally with 2.9 blocks per game after rejecting nine shots in his last two games vs Cameron and Midwestern State. He has at least one block in every game this season for the Lions, with multiple blocks in 17 of A&M-Commerce's 21 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 five games remaining in the season, Macauley will have to average 4.8 blocks per game the rest of the way to tie Johnson's all-time total.

HOW TO GET TO CARNEGIE HALL: Junior swing man LaDon Carnegie has battled injuries throughout the middle part of the season, but when he's been in, he's been as dynamic of a scorer as the Lions have. He's done much of his damage by being the most efficient three-point shooters in the LSC. Carnegie currently leads the LSC in three-point percentage (54.0), and is on pace to break the single-season mark at A&M-Commerce in three-point percentage currently held by Bennette Fields at 45.7 percent in the 1987-88 season. Fields' 87-88 season is the last time the Lions had a 45-percent three-point shooter with at least 50 attempts.  

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 220 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 550 victories.

CALLING LONG DISTANCE: The Lions have not been afraid to step out and let it fly from beyond the arc this season, launching 420 three-point tries, the second most in the LSC. Still, they have managed to be efficient with them too, hitting 36.9 percent from three-point range, a mark that also ranks second in the league. A&M-Commerce has made at least 10 threes in eight games this year with a season-high 12 in a six-point win over Southern Arkansas on November 13. In all, five Lions with at least 30 three-point tries are hitting better than 35 percent of those shots, led by LaDon Carnegie's league-leading 52.1 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 10 of its 21 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.

NOT CLEANING UP YOUR OWN MESS: The Lions had just four offensive rebounds in its win over Cameron on Feb. 5, and followed that up with just five offensive boards in its loss at Midwestern State. The four vs the Aggies are the least by a Lion team in a single game since they had just three in a 77-72 loss at West Teaxas A&M on Jan. 4, 2012.  

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 549 victories.

CALLING LONG DISTANCE: The Lions have not been afraid to step out and let it fly from beyond the arc this season, launching 420 three-point tries, the second most in the LSC. Still, they have managed to be efficient with them too, hitting 36.9 percent from three-point range, a mark that also ranks second in the league. A&M-Commerce has made at least 10 threes in eight games this year with a season-high 12 in a six-point win over Southern Arkansas on November 13. In all, five Lions with at least 30 three-point tries are hitting better than 35 percent of those shots, led by LaDon Carnegie's league-leading 52.1 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 10 of its 20 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.

NOT CLEANING UP YOUR OWN MESS: The Lions won for just the second time this season when losing the battle on the glass, 35-34, in its win over Cameron. Of those 34 rebounds, the Lions only collected four offensive rebounds, thanks in large part to a 57.8 percent shooting night. The four offensive rebounds is the least by a Lion team in a single game since they had just three in a 77-72 loss at West Teaxas A&M on Jan. 4, 2012.