COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will host Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. The game will be a rematch of a December game in which the Lions got an 83-73 win on the road against the Greyhounds.
 
The game will be part of Alumni Day and past Lions will be present to be honored in a ceremony held in between the men's and women's games on Saturday. This will include special recognition of past Elite 8 teams.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (16-5, 8-4 LSC) vs. Eastern New Mexico (8-14, 2-10 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 4 at 4 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/147046
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/sports/2016/11/18/2016-17-basketball-ticket-information.aspx
 
The Lions are coming off of a 112-79 win over Western New Mexico on Thursday. After overcoming a rocky start with four early turnovers, the Lions rebounded and took control of the game.
 
"It didn't start off very well because we started the game off losing 10-0," said head coach Sam Walker. "I thought that helped us quite a bit. We found out that we had to bend our knees and work a little bit to get a win. I thought we had great production off of our bench. I think we scored 66 points off the bench. It was just a real well rounded game after we got down a little bit."
 
The Lions shared the ball well against the Mustangs, notching 24 assists. Walker was pleased with the ball movement and thought it was contagious. Once one player started to share, the whole team followed suit
 
"I think it starts with Trey Seymore," Walker said. "He's been starting at the point the past couple games. He has done a good job of looking for other people. I think when he does that it's contagious. Effort is contagious. So many things are synonymous with success. Trey has really started off looking for other people and other people have been carrying the same load."
 
The Lions had seven players in double figures in the game. Walker was proud of his team and was happy he was able to sub in his reserves for a good portion of the game. He knows his team will benefit from the game experience for the bench players.
 
"Some people who hadn't played as much got some good quality minutes," he said. "We are going to count on them when it comes to conference tournament time and when it comes to playoffs and whatnot. You never know when your name is going to be called. It's good for us to get a lead to get everybody in the game and get people playing and giving them some game time experience."
 
The Lions now host Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. While the Greyhounds have only two conference wins in 12 tries, Walker sees a team who is playing well against some of the top teams in the region. He knows it is not going to be easy to come out on top.
 
"They are a really good team," he said. "Their record will fool you a little bit. They are 2-10 in conference but if you go back and look at their last three games, they beat West Texas, which is one of the top teams in the region, they were tied with two minutes left against Tarleton last night. They have played really well these past three or four games. We know we will have our work cut out for us."