GUNNISON, Colo. – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team fell behind early and was unable to recover in a 102-83 loss to Colorado Mesa University on Friday evening. The game was the Lions' first of two in the Comfort Inn Classic at Western State Colorado University.
 
The Lions fall to 3-1 on the season while the Mavericks are now 2-1 on the year. A&M-Commerce will next play Western State Colorado at 7 p.m. MST (8 p.m. CST) on Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the floor and made 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) of their three-point attempts. CMU shot 56.9 percent (33-of-58) from the floor and made 11-of-25 (44.0 percent) of its three-pointers.
- Trey Conrod (Kilgore) was the Lions' leading scorer with 18 points and five rebounds.
- Reggie Reid (Harlem, Ga.) scored 17 points, passed out a team-high four assists, and had four rebounds.
- Austin Grandstaff (Rockwall) made his A&M-Commerce debut and scored 16 points off of the bench. Willie Rooks (Houston – North Forest) scored 10 points and had a team-best six rebounds.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Reid scored on the game's first possession to give the Lions an early lead, and A&M-Commerce was up 4-3 before the Mavericks went on a 17-point run. The Lions were held scoreless for 4:10 with three missed three-pointers and three turnovers before a Grandstaff triple stopped the skid at 20-7.
 
A&M-Commerce trailed by 13 points with 12 minutes to play, then Colorado Mesa went on another eight-point run and the Lions trailed by 21. Rooks' layup with just under seven minutes to play cut the deficit to 13 points again at 34-21. The Mavericks continued their hot shooting the remainder of the period and took a 55-32 lead into halftime.
 
The lead quickly ballooned to 27 points for CMU out of the break, but the Lions did not pack up and leave. A&M-Commerce cut the lead to 18 at 66-58 on Rooks' three-pointer with 14:34 left. Srdan Budimir (Kadjorjevo, Serbia) hit a trey with 12:30 to play to narrow the lead to 17 points, and Carson Tuttle's (Mukilteo, Wash.) triple with 11:26 to go cut the deficit to 14 at 71-58.
 
Unfortunately for the Lions, that was as close as they would get. CMU would extend the lead to as many as 28 down the stretch, though A&M-Commerce managed to cut it to 17 in the late stages.