SAN ANGELO– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team defeated Central Baptist College 68-52 on Saturday in their second game of the Angelo State Thanksgiving Classic. The Lions took control of the contest early, starting the game on a 15-2 run and led by as many as 22 in the second half.
 
The win brings the Lions to 5-0 to start the season. Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg became the first A&M-Commerce men's basketball coach in program history to begin his tenure at 5-0.
 
The Lions begin their Lone Star Conference season next week, traveling to Lawton, Okla. to face Cameron. The game will be played Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Aggie Gym. The game will be preceded by the Lion women's basketball team against Cameron at 5:30 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Reggie Reid led the team with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half. He was 7-of-12 from the field. He also had four assists, four rebounds and four steals.
- Daquane Willford had 13 points, including nine in the first half. He added seven rebounds and three assists.
- Willie Rooks scored 10 points and led the team with five assists.
- Dorian Armstrong had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Joseph Williams-Powell also had eight points and grabbed 10 boards.
- Trey Conrod scored seven points while Srdan Budimir had five.
- The Lions shot 80 percent from the free throw line, going 11-of-13 from the charity stripe in the second half. A&M-Commerce shot 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from three.
- The Lions had 16 assists in the game and only 10 turnovers. The Lion defense caused 17 Mustang turnovers in the game, leading to 19 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions got a bucket in the first 10 seconds of the game before both teams went nearly three minutes without scoring. After CBC got on the board, the Lions went on a tear, scoring 13 unanswered points to lead 15-2 after six minutes of play. Reid had a three-pointer and a layup in the rally as five different Lions scored in the early run.
 
CBC scored six points in a row to cut into the Lion lead before A&M-Commerce again went on a run, scoring nine unanswered. Willford had consecutive threes on the run and the Lions led 24-8 with six minutes left in the half. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the half as A&M-Commerce led 32-17 at halftime, leading by as many as 17 in the first half.
 
Willford led the team with nine points in the first half. Williams-Powell had six points and four rebounds, making all three of his shots. Reid and Rooks both had five points and three assists in the first half. The Lions shot 46 percent in the first half while holding the Mustangs to 30 percent from the field. The Lion defense forced 10 turnovers in the first half.
 
The teams traded buckets through the first five minutes of the second half as the Lion maintained their double-digit lead. The lead was brought to 22 points after three consecutive buckets from Reid gave the Lions a 48-26 lead with 13 minutes to play in the game.
 
The Lions led by 20 at the 10-minute mark before the Mustangs began to chip away at the lead. The Lions went scoreless for more than four minutes and CBC scored 10 unanswered points to cut the lead to 52-42 with seven minutes to play. Willford broke the scoreless streak with a jumper off of an offensive rebound. The Lions continued to struggle from the field, missing five shots in a row as CBC cut the lead to single digits for the first time since the early minutes of the first half.
 
A&M-Commerce lived from the free throw line late in the game as the Lions remained aggressive and drew contact inside the paint. They made six consecutive free throws to keep putting points on the board. Reid then hit a three-pointer with 2:29 left in the game to push the Lion lead back up to 14 points.
 
After a three-point play from CBC was converted with two minutes to play, Reid made another three to seal the win for the Lions.