COMMERCE— The No. 4 Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team will face No. 5 Cameron in the quarterfinal round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament on Friday. The Lions split the season series with the Aggies, with both teams winning on the road.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (18-9, 10-8 LSC) vs. Cameron (17-11, 10-8 LSC)
WHERE: Allen Events Center in Allen, Texas
WHEN: Friday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/162869
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/lonestar/portal.htm?eventId=351350&streamType=video
LIVE AUDIO: www.ketr.org
TICKETS: http://bit.ly/LSCAllen2017
The Lions are coming off of a weekend losing to the first and third seeds in the conference, on the road. Head coach
Sam Walker was proud of the way his team battled in two difficult places to play.
"It was a tough road trip for us as far as a win/loss standpoint," he said. "But we played two really good teams on the road and we had a 100-98 loss against West Texas. I felt we did so many things well and had so many opportunities to win there. Then playing Permian Basin in their own gym when they were playing for the conference championship, they were playing to cut their nets down in front of a packed house. It was standing room only there and it was a tough feat. I feel good that we competed and played well."
The Lions will now enter the LSC Tournament with an 18-9 record. Six of the eight teams in the tournament are regionally ranked schools, including A&M-Commerce. Walker knows his team has been prepared for so many tough opponents, because these teams have been playing against each other for the last two months.
"Our season has definitely prepared us for the tournament," he said. "We are going to be playing some of the best teams in the country in this tournament, because we play some of the best teams in the country in our own conference. So, to have an 18-9 record most years would be just OK but it is pretty good this year."
Walker is confident that his team will be prepared for anything the tournament will have to offer. Because of his conference and non-conference schedule, he feels his team is ready to overcome any challenge.
"We are really pleased with where we are because we played so many regionally and nationally ranked teams all year long," he said. "And sometimes we would play two in one weekend. To have a winning record on the road in this conference, it speaks volumes to what we have a chance to do come this weekend."
The Lions are the fourth seed in the conference and will play No. 5 Cameron, the team ranked eighth in the regional rankings. Should the Lions advance, they would turn around and play the next night with a potential Sunday matchup. With three games in three days, Walker knows the stress that it can put on his players, having won the LSC Championship in the same setup just two seasons ago.
"I shared it with our team," he said. "It seems like it would be impossible to win a game Friday night. Then you have to turn around and win the next day some 22 hours later and then an afternoon game on Sunday. It doesn't seem like that would be possible but we did it two years ago and won the championship two years ago with the exact same format. We've got a resilient bunch and we have a lot of depth. When and how quick we have to turnaround to play again, it's not going to affect these guys. They are going to show up to play and we will see some good basketball this weekend."
The winner of the game will face the winner of Thursday's 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal matchup between No. 1 UT Permian Basin and No. 8 Midwestern State. That semifinal game will be played on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The championship game will be played Sunday at 3:30 p.m. All games will be played at the Allen Events Center.
