WICHITA FALLS – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball had a halftime lead but could not withstand the second half shooting barrage of Midwestern State University in a 78-57 loss in D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Thursday night.
 
The Lions fall to 14-5 overall and 6-4 in the Lone Star Conference with the loss, while MSU elevates to 13-6 overall and 6-4 in the league.
 
A&M-Commerce will play at Cameron on Saturday, tipping off at 4 p.m. in Lawton, Okla.
  INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Malik Albert led the Lions in scoring with 16 points, while Jovan Austin netted 11.
- The Lions shot 32.8 percent for the game (20-of-61), but MSU shot 45.6 percent (31-of-68).
- Dorian Armstrong had nine rebounds in the game, while Albert and Trey Washington had six boards apiece.
- The Lions had assists on 16 of 20 made buckets in the game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the Mustangs made the game's first basket, the Lions hit the accelerator, scoring the game's net seven points to go up by five.  MSU came back and took the lead at the 14:37 mark at 10-9 before A&M-Commerce went on a 13-2 surge.
 
In that big Lion push, Albert went on a personal nine-point run and a pair of free throws at the 10:19 mark gave the Lions a double-digit lead at 22-12.
 
The Mustangs limited the Lions to two points in the next six minutes as A&M-Commerce missed eight straight shots. This allowed MSU to come back and take a lead at the 4:33 mark, 26-24.
 
The Lions then put the clamps on the Mustang offense, allowing only one field goal in the final 4:33.  A pair of powerful trips to the rack by Armstrong helped the Lions tie the contest and an Austin triple at the 1:47 mark allowed the road side to take a 33-30 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Lions moved the ball well in the half, with nine assists on 11 made baskets, while MSU held a slight 21-20 rebounding edge at the break.
 
Shooting went cold in a period around halftime. The final 1:47 of the first half and the first 5:44 of the second half saw no shots find the target for the Lions. The skid was stopped on an Austin triple at the 14:36 mark.
 
MSU went on a 14-3 run over a 3:48 span and took its first double-digit lead at the 13:52 mark, 47-37. The Mustangs' shooting improved through the night while the Lions' scuffled. MSU connected on shots of nearly every variety, including dunks and a long-range three at the end of a shot clock.
 
MSU shot 52.8 percent in the second half, while A&M-Commerce shot only 32.1 percent.
 
Head Coach Sam Walker after the game
On the way Midwestern State played
"Let's give them a lot of credit. I told their coach when I shook hands with him that it wasn't a bad shooting night for us, it was a great defensive night for you guys and they deserve a lot of credit. I thought they were able to take us out of our stuff and they were able to maul us on the inside. They really went after us at our throat. We didn't take it to the rim enough. We are a team that has been able to shoot 30 or 40 free throws and we shot 17 tonight."
 
On the team's struggles on offense:
"I just thought we were never into it on the offensive end. So many times this year, if you look at our losses, you look at the Tarleton loss where we only scored 60 points. This loss we scored 57 tonight. Same thing against Permian Basin. We are kind of driven by playing up and down and putting points up. When shots aren't going down and we aren't shooting free throws, it doesn't affect our effort, but it affects what we do defensively. We get frustrated and don't stick to our game plan as well."
 
On how little things made a big difference
"I told the guys, this is the Lone Star Conference. We played a really solid first half and a turnover here and maybe a pass we shouldn't have made there or a missed assignment, those can quickly unravel on you and a three point lead can turn into a seven point lead. We came into the first media timeout and we only scored one point. That was really the tale of the game."
 
On how he reacts to the loss:
"I don't want to oversimplify things but its just one game. We've won a lot of games at the buzzer, we've won a lot of games by a lot of points and we've lost some games too. In this league, you've got to have a short-term memory. You've got to get back in the gym and work on how you are going to play your next opponent. We are playing in less than 48 hours again against a team that came into our gym and beat us at our place."