A&M-Commerce (17-8, 6-7 LSC) vs No. 2 Tarleton State (24-1, 13-0 LSC)
Friday, March 1, 2014 • 7:30 p.m. 
First United Bank Center (5,000) • Canyon, Texas 
Radio: KETR 88.9 FM • Live Stats • Twitter: @Lion_MBB • Game Notes (PDF)

STORY LINE
• The Lions will put their three-game win streak on the line on Saturday night when they close out the regular season vs No. 2 Tarlton State, who enters Saturday ranked No. 2 in the nation.

• A win would secure no lower than the No. 4 seed in the upcoming LSC Tournament for the Lions, but would also snap an eight-game losing streak to the Texans. 

THE LAST TIME OUT
• Tyrie Wooten hit three straight free throws with 10.7 seconds remaining and A&M-Commerce held defensively to squeak out an 83-82 win over West Texas A&M on Saturday at the First United Bank Center. The win, coupled with by losses by Eastern New Mexico and Cameron, bumped the Lions into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with one game to play. It also marked the first time the Lions have picked up a win over the Buffs in Canyon since the 2005-05 season. The Lions trailed by four points with less than 2:30 to play after Miles Gatewood's fourth three-pointer of the game, but LaDon Carnegie hit a pair of foul shots with a minute to go. Then, after a defensive stop, Wooten was fouled on a three-point try from the left corner and proceeded to hit all three shots to put A&M-Commerce up 83-82.

UP NEXT
• The Lions will know their seeding, opponet and game time for the first round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament at the conclusion of league play on Saturday night. They can still finish as the No. 3, 4, 5 or 6 seed, and will play either on either Wednesday or Thursday in Allen. 

QUICK HITS
• With its win on Saturday at West Texas A&M, the Lions snapped an eight-game road losing streak in Lone Star Conference games. 

• A win over Tarleton State would give the Lions its first win streak of at least four games to close out a regular season since 2004-05 season.

• A&M-Commerce is hitting 74.8 percent of its foul shots this season, leading the league in free throw percentage, ranking second only to Tarleton State in free throws attempted (713) and free throws made (533). Better than 26 percent of the Lions' points this year have come from the free throw stripe, the highest in the LSC.

• Senior guard Devondrick Walker had just two 20-point games in 56 games prior to this season. He went for 24 points in Saturday's win West Texas A&M, his fifth time to surpass the 20-point mark in a single game this season.

Series vs. TSU: Series tied, 29-29
Last 5 Meetings
2013-14    at Tarleton State        L    84-71
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                        

LAST MEETING
No. 4 Tarleton State picked hit nine three-point buckets and picked up a wire-to-wire 84-71 win over A&M-Commerce at Wisdom Gym. The Lions got a team-high 15 points from Daniel Ehambe, tying his career high, and 13 points apiece from LaDon Carnegie and Cameron Blue; however, shot just 38 percent from the field as a team and was just 5-of-15 from three-point range after hitting more than half of its shots from beyond the arc in its previous two games. A&M-Commerce went 28-for-34 from the foul line, including a 10-for-12 performance from Carnegie. Meanwhile, the Texans hit just 11 of their 24 shots from the charity stripe, but got 38 bench points and doubled up the Lions on the offensive glass 16-8 to lead to 19 second-chance points.
 
SERIES NOTES
Tarleton State has won the last eight meetings in its series with the Lions, tying up the all-time series with 29 wins apiece after its 84-71 win on Feb. 1 in Stephenville. A&M-Commerce opened up the series vs TSU in the 1962-63 season and won 15 of the teams' first 18 meetings. The Texans have won their last three trips to The Field House, last falling to the Lions in Commerce in the 2007-08 season.

SENIOR NIGHT: Saturday's game will serve as Senior Night for the Lions' five-member senior class. The Lions will honor seniors Devondrick Walker, Tyrie Wooten, Kameron Price, Daniel Ehambe and Donavon Gage prior to its game vs the Texans. 

NEARING TOURNEY TIME: The Lions will be making a trip to Allen next week for the Lone Star Conference Tournament, but entering Saturday the only thing still up in the air is seeding. A&M-Commerce currently sits at 6-7 in LSC play with one game left, and could potentially tie for third place in the league; tiebreak scenarios could potentially move the Lions as high as the No. 3 seed, while a loss they could drop them no lower than the No. 6 seed. 

REGIONAL RANKINGS: The latest South Central Regional rankings came out on Wednesday with A&M-Commerce ranked ninth among teams from the Lone Star, Rocky Mountain and Heartland conferences heading in to next week's LSC Tournament. A top-8 finish in the region would assure the Lions a trip to the regional tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 season.  

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 82.0 per-game average. To date, that is the highest-scoring team head coach Sam Walker has ever had, just behind his 2006-07 team who averaged 81.9 points per contest. The mark is also the highest by any Lion team since 1996-97 when the Lions averaged 83.2 points per game under former head coach Paul Peak.

DEVONDRICK NEARING ELITE COMPANY: Devondrick Walker has stepped up his game in LSC play in his senior season, hitting for double figures in 14 of the Lions' last 17 games, and is averaging 16.4 points per game in league contests, good for fourth in the LSC. He is also currently 59 of 65 (90.8)  from the foul stripe this year, but needs to average 2.5 makes per game to qualify for the national leaderboard. He is currently averaging just 2.36 makes per game, and needs at least six made freebies on Saturday to find his name on the leaderboard. Mike Micarelli currently holds the 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 9.6 points and 7.6 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 2.7 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 20 of A&M-Commerce's 25 games to date. Lee Johnson holds the single-season school record with 84 blocks (2.8 bpg), set in 1978-79. 

HOW TO GET TO CARNEGIE HALL: Junior swing man LaDon Carnegie 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 (52.4), 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.  

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 223 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 557 victories.

BOARDING UP: In addition to Christian Macauley's exploits blocking shots, the sophomore from Washington D.C. is also doing his fair share on the glass. Currently he ranks third in the Lone Star Conference with 7.6 rebounds per game, and is seeking to become the first Lion to average 7.5 boards per game since Rashad Brown averaged 7.5 in the 2008-09 season. His 7.6 boards per game are is the highest average since Thaddeus Daggett averaged 7.6 per game in the 2002-03 season. 

THREE-POINT HAPPY: The Lions finished 11-for-28 from beyond the three-point line in Saturday's win at West Texas A&M, making just 11 of its 17 shots from the foul line in the game. The 28 three-point attempts is the second most attempts for the Lions this year, and the most in LSC play; meanwhile, 17 shots from the foul line is tied for their lowest amount of attempts in a single game this year.