COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team held off a late charge from Hardin-Simmons University to earn a 70-66 win in the Field House on Monday night.
 
The Lions even their record at 2-2 overall with the win headed into their first Lone Star Conference game of the season. A&M-Commerce will host St. Mary's at Moody Coliseum in Dallas at 7:45 p.m. Thursday. The LSC doubleheader with the Lion women's team was moved to SMU since A&M-Commerce is hosting the LSC Volleyball Championship quarterfinal matches in the Field House that day.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 61.8 percent (21-of-34) from the free throw line. A&M-Commerce made only 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) of its three-point attempts, while HSU made 10 three-pointers.
- Deonta Terrell (Chicago, Ill.) led the Lions with 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
- Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench and drew six fouls.
- Rodney Brown (Beaumont – West Brook) scored 10 points and had five rebounds.
- The Lions led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but HSU's Cowboys battled throughout and took a second half lead.
 
HEAD COACH JARET VON ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME
Overall thoughts after the game: "I felt really good, not because we played well, but because when stuff got tough, guys got in a stance, played with a sense of urgency and just took the last six minutes. They threw in a few threes to make it interesting there at the end and I take responsibility for that. All 10 guys who played were the only guys who were available because everyone's sick. Alex Peavy had played in one college game, Wayne Stewart has been in one practice all year and he's unbelievable with his energy and knowing what we do. It felt good that we flipped it and turned it around. We got to the foul line 34 times and were aggressive with what we were doing. All in all, I felt better than I thought I would."
 
On players stepping up: "With so many guys out, or in and out, the good thing about this team is they all know that if you're not ready to play, there's another guy on the bench. Nobody has solidified that 'these are my minutes because I do everything right every time.' Guys are still figuring their roles out and what they need to do. You saw it from Wayne tonight. He wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was in the right spot all the time. Deonta just knows where he's supposed to be, what he's supposed to be doing, and how we're trying to play. Those guys have an advantage early in the season but they still have to show up and perform. I think it's going to be a blessing that we get so many guys quality minutes this early in the season."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions pounced on HSU out of the gate, scoring the game's first eight points and not allowing a Cowboy bucket until a three-pointer five minutes into the game. Josh Winbush (Lake Charles, La.) earned a three-point play on a thunderous dunk with 14:38 to play in the half, and baskets in the paint by Carius Key (Irving – MacArthur) and Vydal Bradford (Mansfield – Legacy) pushed the Lion lead to 15-3 with 13 minutes left in the half.
 
A personal five-point run by Brown gave the Lions their largest lead of the game at 22-5 with 11 minutes to go in the opening period, and A&M-Commerce was still up by 16 points with five minutes left before the Cowboys rode back into the picture. HSU went on a nine-point run to narrow the advantage to 36-29 with 1:40 left in the half. A pair of Terrell free throws in the final minute of the period sent the Lions to the dressing room with a 38-29 lead.
 
The Lions shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the field in the first half and held Hardin-Simmons to 11-of-32 shooting (34.4 percent) in the period.
 
The Cowboys took advantage of cold Lion shooting in the early stages of the second half to take a lead with seven minutes gone in the period. A&M-Commerce made one field goal in the opening seven minutes of the half and HSU took a 44-42 lead at the 13:40 mark. The teams stayed within two possessions of each other for the next few minutes and the game was tied at 54-all with 5:54 to go.
 
Deon Barrett (Lancaster) made a layup, Clarence Evans (Austin – Aggieland Panthers) hit a free throw, Terrell hit a basket, and Stewart scored in the paint then hammered home a fast break alley-oop from Terrell. The 9-1 run gave the Lions a 63-55 lead with 3:27 to play. Another alley-oop from Evans to Stewart with two minutes to play made it a double digit lead at 67-57.
 
Hardin-Simmons scored seven straight points to narrow its deficit to three points at 69-66 with 11 seconds to go, but a Barrett free throw sealed the game in the dying moments.