CANYON – After 285 days away from outside competition, the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team started the 2020-21 season Wednesday afternoon, falling to No. 3 West Texas A&M University by a 100-70 score.
 
The Lions fall to 0-1 to start the season with the loss. A&M-Commerce starts the Lone Star Conference season on Friday and Saturday at St. Edward's, with tipoff of both games scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions were led in scoring by newcomer Devin Bethely (Baton Rouge, La.), who scored 18 points and dished out a team-high four assists.
- JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) scored 12 points and had five rebounds off the bench.
- Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Houston – Cy Lakes) was the leading rebounder with seven boards.
- The Lions shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the floor, 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from three-point range, and 59.4 percent (19-of-32) from the free throw line
- WT forced 25 Lion turnovers and converted them into 35 points, while the Lions scored nine points off 17 Buffalo turnovers.

HEAD COACH JARET von ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The homestanding Buffs got off to a hot start, scoring the first nine points of the game before Alex Peavy (Smithson Valley) hit a three-pointer to put the Lions on the board. A&M-Commerce's deficit would stand near 10 points for the early stages of the first half until a 7-point Buff run would push the hosts' lead to 26-10 with 10:18 to play.
 
Donald Ghostone (Grand Prairie) and Abdul-Mateen scored on consecutive possessions and a Ghostone free throw at the 9:20 mark brought that deficit back down to 26-15. Unfortunately for A&M-Commerce, the Buffs went on a 13-3 run, pushing the lead to 39-18 with 7:12 left in the half. The Lions played the Buffs evenly for the rest of the half, and Bethely's three-pointer in the final minute made it a 52-32 halftime score.
 
The first three minutes of the second half saw a furious pace, with WT outscoring the Lions 13-5 to push the lead to 65-39. The home team stretched its advantage to as many as 42 points, but the Lions continued to battle.
 
Romer Rosario, Carius Key (Irving – MacArthur), and Dante Adams (Osceola, Ark) scored on three straight possessions and Adams threw down a thunderous dunk. A three-pointer by Romer Rosario and Key's dunk with just over a minute to play provided the final margin.