COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team notched its highest scoring output so far this season, earning an 86-78 win over No. 12 St. Edward's University in the Field House on Saturday night.
 
The win brings the Lions back to an even record at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the Lone Star Conference entering an extended break from action. St. Edward's takes its first loss at 6-1 overall and 1-1 in league action.
 
The Lions are away from competition for the next 13 days, next playing the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma at home on Friday, December 6.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions shot 50 percent from the field (27-of-54) in the game, with exceptional conversion rates in the second half.
- A&M-Commerce made 8-of-12 three pointers (66.7 percent) in the second half and 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) overall in the period.
- Five Lions scored in double figures, led by 24 points from Deon Barrett (Lancaster) off the bench. The guard also had seven rebounds and seven assists with four made three-pointers.
- Austin Grandstaff (Rockwall) also excelled off the bench, making 6-of-8 three-pointers on the way to 19 points and five rebounds.
- Deonta Terrell (Chicago, Ill.) was extremely active in the game, picking up seven steals for a school record and tying the LSC high this season. He also had 12 points and four assists.
- Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) added 11 points and Darnell Wright (Chicago, Ill.) had 10 points.
- For St. Edward's, LSC Preseason Player of the Year Ashton Spears scored 42 points on nine made three-pointers and 15 total made shots, but no other Hilltopper scored more than 12.
 
HEAD COACH JARET VON ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME
On the aggressive defense: "You have to give a lot of credit to St. Ed's. They are tough to guard. We wanted to make this game ugly. We didn't want to let them run all of their stuff. You talk about coming off of a Thursday night game in Dallas, and a quick turnaround to try and get ready for a team that tries to run a lot of stuff offensively and really executes at a high level. All of the mistakes that we were going to make were going to be aggressive. And that led to some steals and some opportunities for us."
 
On playing well down the stretch: "It all started with some stops. It all started with some subs and they got us some stops to get us to the four minute media timeout. We got our guys some valuable rest. And we made some mistakes tonight, but we made mistakes playing aggressive. You don't want passive mistakes, which is what I think we have had in some of those close games. When you are the aggressor, you usually get the benefit of the whistle and we were able to get to the foul line at the end. I credit Deon and Wayne, who made like six or eight free throws in a row. It's hard for a team to come back from down when you are hitting your foul shots."
On overcoming shooting woes early to finish hot: "I thought we got some good shots. We got a couple good looks at three early. But you can't worry about makes and misses. You just have to keep running good offense and get the shots we want to get. And for the most part we did that. We haven't shot the ball well all year. We shoot well in practice but this is the first time all year we shot the way we think we are capable of. It was great to get multiple guys involved. I think that everyone that played made a big time contribution. Not necessarily on the stat sheet, but everyone did something that was important to this win."
 
On the break that's coming up: "We have had six different lineups in six games. You put guys on the floor that you trust and I trust all 10 of those guys. I trust the guys on our bench. We are a deep team, I love the guys that we have. Our assistant coaches have done an unbelievable job on the recruiting trail bringing in guys that can play at a high level. WE are still working out the kinks, but this is a good win for us for a lot of reasons. Now we have a 13-day break. We have a lot games we can go back and look at stuff. We will have about eight practices before we play again. And that is not common in the middle of the year. We have to take advantage of practice and get a little bit better every time we step out on the floor, we have a chance to be good down the stretch."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
St. Edward's started the game on fire, as the visitors rushed out to a 14-3 lead in the first four and a half minutes with Spears making three three-pointers in the early going. That lead would extend to 13 points with 10 minutes to play in the period when Spears scored his 15^th point of the night.
 
The Lions responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to tie the game. Grandstaff canned triples on consecutive possessions to knot the game up at 23-all with 7:06 left in the first half. Another eight-point run facilitated by three-pointers from Alex Peavy (Smithson Valley) and Barrett gave the Lions their first lead of more than one possession at 33-27 with just under three minutes left in the period. A&M-Commerce took a 36-34 lead into the halftime break.
 
With the narrow margin against the high-scoring Hilltoppers, the Lions needed to hit shots at a high clip to stay in front.
 
Simply put – They did exactly that.
 
Leo Lara (Santa Rosa) and Wright hit three-pointers on the Lions' opening two possessions of the second half and a pair of field goals by Terrell in succession gave the Lions made baskets on their first four attempts of the period. SEU went on a five-point run to narrow the margin to one point at 49-48 with 15:23 to play, but Grandstff hit consecutive three-pointers off of Barrett assists to push the lead back to seven points at 55-48 with 13:29 to go.
 
St. Ed's tied the game up with 12:05 to go, but this seemed only to spur the Lions on. Isaiah Wiggins (Harlem, N.Y.) and Terrell each converted steals into points to kickstart a 15-3 rally. Barrett and Grandstaff closed the run with three-pointers on consecutive possessions, and A&M-Commerce went ahead 70-58 with five minutes to play.
 
While momentum had shifted in TAMUC's favor, the Hilltoppers weren't done. A five-point run by the guests cut the lead to four points at 74-70 with three minutes to go. The Lions ensured the victory by making key shots at the charity stripe. A Wright breakaway dunk after a press break was the Lions' only field goal attempt in the final 2:45 of action, and A&M-Commerce made 10-of-12 free throws in the final stages to earn the big win.