Commerce, Texas – Midwestern State rolled into the Field House Saturday night and escaped with an 85-83 overtime win over A&M-Commerce after the Lions fought back from a seven point deficit to force overtime late in the second half.
 
Trailing by seven with 2:37 to play following a dunk from Khapri Alston, the Lions strung together a 9-2 run over the final minutes to send the meeting into overtime.  Carnegie had four points during the stretch including a huge three-point play. 
 
The Lions had their chance to clinch the game before extra time was needed with Anthony Adams at the free throw line with eight seconds to play and A&M-Commerce down 76-75.  Adams missed the first, but made the second to the tie game.  A wild play ensued on the MSU's possession when the ball was knocked out of bounds with some question of whether it was off of the Mustangs or the Lions.  The officials ruled Mustang ball on the far sideline across from their own basket.  On the inbounds pass Derrell Gibbs got a good look, but his game-winning 3-point attempt hit the back iron and rattled out sending the game knotted at 76 into OT.
 
Everrett Pleasant scored the first points in overtime with a jumper following an offensive rebound.  After a pair of missed MSU free throws, the Lions had chance to take a two possession lead, but could not convert only to see the Mustangs nail a corner triple to take a 79-78 lead with 3:30 left.
 
Midwestern took a three-point lead, 81-78, on a basket by Breston McNeal at the rim, but A&M-Commerce answered with a JR Owens free throw and a Pleasant bucket to the tie game at 81 with 1:30 remaining.
 
With the Field House crowd on its feet, the Lions defense stiffened and forced a turnover, but could not convert on the offensive end.  Xavier Blackburn gave the Mustangs a one-point lead, 82-81, with a free throw, but Adams quickly skirted to the basket and hit a runner in the lane to regain the lead for the Lions, 83-82, with 23 seconds left.
 
Kevin Wagner took the inbound pass coast-to-coast for an easy and quick lay-in.  Trailing by one with 14 seconds left, A&M-Commerce brought the ball into the frontcourt but pressure by the Mustangs forced the turnover on the wing.  In the scramble, Gibbs was fouled and sent to the line where he made his first free throw, but missed his second.  Pleasant grabbed the rebound and worked the ball ahead to Adams for the game-winning attempt from midcourt, but the shot came up short and MSU escaped with the 85-83 win.
 
The Lions led for 17:45 seconds of the first half only to have the Mustangs close out the first 20 minutes with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 33 that lead to the back-and-forth play in the final 20 minutes of regulation and the five extra in the overtime frame.
 
In their four Lone Star Conference losses, the Lions have been outrebounded by their opponents with the trend continuing Saturday.  Midwestern State outrebounded A&M-Commerce by 13 boards, 46-33, including 21 offensive rebounds for the Mustangs.
 
Both teams played efficient basketball from the field with MSU ending at 43 percent and A&M-Commerce finishing at 47 percent.  The Mustangs knocked down eight of their 23 attempts from behind the 3-point arc for 35 percent, while the Lions converted only one of their 11 long-range attempts for nine percent.  Lions sported a 70 percent free throw shooting percentage with 28 makes on 40 attempts, while the Mustangs attempted only 22 free throws with 15 makes for 68 percent.
 
Darrell Williams, who fouled out of the game in regulation, finished with a team-high 23 points for the Lions on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor.  The big man was 9-of-13 from the charity stripe as well.  LaDon Carnegie chipped in 17 points, and Christian Macauley continued his double-digit scoring streak with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds.
 
McNeal paced the Mustangs with 25 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.  Gibbs and Kevin Wagner added 16 points and 13 points respectively for Midwestern State.
 
The Lions, who fall to 16-6 on the season and 5-4 in the LSC, will host Kingsville Thursday with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. in the Field House for their next game.
 
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