COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team was handed its first loss of the season after an 81-74 defeat in overtime to Cameron University. The Lions forced overtime on a rainbow three from 45 feet away but could not seal the win.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 6-1 on the season and 0-1 in the Lone Star Conference. Cameron improves to 7-1 and 1-0 in conference play.
 
The Lions return to action on Saturday against Midwestern State University. The game will begin at 4 p.m. and will follow the A&M-Commerce women's game at 2 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Malik Albert led the Lions with 23 points, including the game-tying long distance shot to force overtime. On an inbound with five seconds left, he pulled up just inside half court and sunk the three from 45 feet.
- Trey Seymore had 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 42 minutes of play. De'Andre Carson had 14 points.
- JV Long had 18 points and four assists to lead Cameron. Tyus Momoh had 17 points for the Aggies.
- After making their first shot of the game, the Lions then missed 14 shots in a row. They ended the game shooting 32 percent from the field.
- Cameron had 36 points in the paint compared to just six for the Lions. CU also had 12 fast break points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions scored five early points before going ice cold from the field. After making their first shot, A&M-Commerce then missed 14 in a row in the first ten minutes of the game, including 0-of-9 from three. The Lions were held scoreless for seven minutes as Cameron went on an 11-0 run to quickly jump out to a double-digit lead. CU led 15-5 midway through the half.
 
A&M-Commerce then started to see the ball go into the bucket as Carson hit back-to-back shots to cut the Aggie lead to five. Carson then hit back-to-back threes to cut the Aggie lead to two with five minutes to play. He hit four of the first six made buckets for A&M-Commerce.
 
Seymore also contributed to the Lion rally. He got to the free throw line and made his shots, going 5-of-5 in the first half. The Lions tied the game at 27 with 40 seconds to play in the opening period. The Aggies made a late bucket to take a 29-27 lead into the half.
 
Carson had 11 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting to lead A&M-Commerce. Seymore had 10 points and added three assists for the Lions.
 
The Lions took their first lead since the first minute of the game early in the second half, as the teams traded baskets early in the frame. CU took a slight lead for the first eight minutes of the half but A&M-Commerce never let the lead get above four points.
 
The Aggies changed that and went on a run midway through the half to push their lead back to double digits. The Lions cut the lead back down to five with five minutes to play on a pair of threes.
 
The Lions caught fire from deep late in the game. Albert hit back-to-back threes to cut the CU lead to two with four minutes to play, and another three by Seymore cut the lead to one.
 
The Lions missed a teardrop shot which would have given them the lead with 10 seconds to play and were forced to foul down by a point. The Aggies made both free throws.
 
With five seconds left, the Lions had one final shot. Albert got a screen from Carson and pulled up just beyond the half court stripe. He rose above the defender and knocked down the prayer from 45 feet away, sending the game into overtime tied at 63-all.
 
Both teams hit early threes in overtime to keep the game level. The teams again traded threes and midway through the overtime period, the game was level at 71. Albert hit another shot to give the Lions a two-point lead, but the Aggies went on a 5-0 run to take a three-point lead into the final minute of overtime.
 
The Lions couldn't convert their possession and were forced to foul. The Aggies made their free throws and escaped with the win.