SAN ANGELO– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team defeated No. 5 Angelo State University 97-89 in overtime on Saturday night. The game went down to the wire until the Lions took over the game in overtime.
 
The win brings the Lions to 12-2 on the season and 5-1 in the Lone Star Conference. ASU drops to 10-2 on the season and 2-2 in conference play. The Lions are now tied with Tarleton State for first place in the LSC.
 
The Lions return to action on Tuesday as they travel to Stephenville to face No. 9 TSU in the final game of A&M-Commerce's seven-game road trip. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Trey Seymore led the Lions with 25 points. He also had five rebounds.
- Malik Albert had 23 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
- Jovan Austin had 13 points and three assists.
- The Lions shot 41 percent from the field while the Rams shot 46 percent. A&M-Commerce had 19 offensive rebounds and 19 second chance points.
- The Lions shot 49 free throws and made 32, many of which came in overtime.
- ASU led for 25 minutes while A&M-Commerce led for eight minutes. The Lions led for the entire overtime period.
- There were 12 ties and five lead changes in the game.
- Quay King had 25 points for ASU. Lorenzo Dillard had 24 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED The Rams jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead but the Lions responded with a three from Seymore, who had the first five points for A&M-Commerce. The Rams were shooting well from the field to start the game and their lead climbed to double digits in the first eight minutes of the game. 
 
The Lions began to surge midway through the half, cutting the Ram lead to 27-24 with eight minutes to play. Albert made two threes as part of that run. 
 
ASU answered back and built its lead back up and led by 10 with five minutes left in the half. The Rams were shooting well from the arc in the first half. The Lions cut down the lead again back to four before back-to-back threes pushed the lead to 12. 
 
The Lions finished the half strong, going on a 10-0 run to close the half. With a three-point play from Seymore and a late foul for two free throws, the Lions trailed 44-42 at the half.
 
Albert led the Lions with 13 points at the break. He also had four rebounds to lead the team. Seymore had 12 points, shooting 5-of-9 from the field. Trey Washington had six points and three assists.
 
The Lions shot 44 percent in the first half, but shot 20 percent from behind the arc. The Rams shot 45 percent from the field and 47 percent from deep. The Lions had a 20-10 advantage in the paint and an 11-6 advantage in fast break points.
 
The Lions took the lead, scoring two quick layups to start the second half, capitalizing on consecutive Ram turnovers. The Lions continued to attack the paint in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the half on either layups or free throws. 
 
ASU responded with a 7-0 run of their own to retake the lead. The teams traded the lead throughout the second half. The game was tied with 12 minutes to play. 
 
Both teams suffered a cold streak midway through the period. The Lions missed 5 consecutive shots while ASU was held scoreless for three minutes. 
 
Both teams continued to battle down the wire. Neither team held a lead of more than four after the first two minutes of the half. With a minute to play, the Lions trailed by one. An Albert free throw tied the game with 30 seconds left. Daquane Willford drew an offensive foul with four seconds left to give the Lions one last shot in regulation. However the shot was missed and the game went into overtime. 

The game was tied 12 times in the second half, with neither team leading by more than a possession in the final 14 minutes of action.
 
The Lions were red hot to start overtime. Albert had a thunderous dunk off of a steal and Seymore banked in a three as A&M-Commerce score the first seven points of the overtime frame. ASU fought back into the game to cut the lead to three, but the Lions closed out the game from free throw line to earn the key upset win.. 

HEAD COACH SAM WALKER AFTER THE GAME
On the Lions' performance and challenge against a top team
"We might have played one of the best games that we've played all year. Once again, we weren't great from the free throw line and we didn't make every shot, but we throw those four little guards out there against their 6-11, 6-7, 6-10 guys across the front line and DeAndre Carson comes up with big rebounds or Daquane Willford."
 
"When the 5-9, 5-10 guys are battling like that, it's a pleasure to watch these guys work and be so dedicated to winning.  Not just be dedicated to effort, but have a game plan where we're not going to let them control the offensive glass, and we're not going to turn the ball over, and we're going to make them play defense through possessions."
 
On the Lions' performance down the stretch of a tight game
Once it went into overtime, I knew. Malik [Albert] had a free throw opportunity to finish the game off, and he missed, which tied it up. That challenges people like him. I've really been blessed to have the opportunity to coach guys who are such warriors. They're really fun to watch and really fun to work with.
 
On the mismatch in varying positions
"They really disrupted us with their length, but we were able to disrupt them with our speed. We were able to keep the turnovers low in an overtime game and only turned it over 12 times against a talented team. I thought we shared the ball and found a way to win."