COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team begins the second half of its conference schedule with two road contests this week. The Lions face A&M-Kingsville on Thursday and Angelo State on Saturday.
 
A&M-Kingsville
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (15-4, 7-2 LSC) at Texas A&M-Kingsville (10-7, 6-3 LSC)
WHERE: The Steinke Center in Kingsville, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: Click HERE
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
Angelo State
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce at Angelo State (13-5, 6-3 LSC)
WHERE: The Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 2 at 4 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: Click HERE
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
The Lions are coming off of a home stand split. They fell in overtime to Western New Mexico in the final seconds before bouncing back with a back-and-forth grind-it-out win against UT Permian Basin. Head coach Jaret von Rosenberg liked the way his team bounced back to split the home series.
 
"It's the story of this league," he said. "Every team that you play in the Lone Star expects to win when they step on the floor. Western got us. They had a good game plan and they played just well enough to make a few plays at the end and came out with a win. It was good to see us bounce back and take care of home court against a really good Permian Basin team."
 
After struggling from the field in the second half against Western New Mexico, the Lions bounced back with a strong shooting performance against UTPB, including 11 threes between Willie Rooks and Reggie Reid. von Rosenberg liked how his team did not get discouraged after a tough shooting night and bounced back strong.
 
"Our players play with a lot of confidence," he said. "They played with the same confidence Thursday and took the same shots. And they stepped up and took the same shots on Saturday. Reggie really got it going in the first half behind the three point line. He was 5-of-8 from three. He kept us in the game when we weren't getting paint touches. Then in the second half, we had a very balanced attack. We scored inside and also hit more threes in the second half. We were able to put 48 points on the board and get enough stops to get a win down the stretch."
 
The Lions are now at the midpoint of their conference season. The team sits at 7-2, one game back of first place. The team holds its own destiny in its hands. But von Rosenberg also is wary of too much confidence, because every team will continue to improve.
 
"It is going to be tough," he said. "We have to continue to get better. Every team in our league is going to get better the second time around. The second time they play you, they know your tendencies a little bit better. The players on the floor and the coaching staffs do a really good job preparing. We have to do the same thing. We have to prepare. When we show up on the floor, we have to be ready to compete for 40 minutes.  Then we have to continue to work on little things as we inch towards getting better in the end of February going into March, when we get into the conference tournament and hopefully get a chance to play beyond the conference tournament."
 
The Lions start with a road game against A&M-Kingsville. The Lions defeated the Javelinas by five points in the team's first matchup, withstanding a late comeback attempt after leading by 15 points in the second half. von Rosenberg looks for another battle as the teams face each other again.
 
"They are on a six-game winning streak right now," he said. "They are obviously doing things right. We have to go down there and play error free basketball. We have to take care of the ball and not turn it over. I think the key to the game is whether we can handle the glass. I think defensively we are good enough to get stops when we need to but we have to finish it with rebounds. I think rebounding is a big key to what we are doing, especially when you go on the road in the league. To have a chance to win, you have to control the glass and control the paint."
 
The games will be broadcast live on the Lion Sports Network, 88.9 FM, KETR. Links to live statistics and video are available at lionathletics.com.