WICHITA FALLS – After trailing by double digits in the first half, the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team used second half runs to pick up a 78-69 victory over Midwestern State University in D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Thursday night.
 
With the win, the Lions move to 15-8 overall and 11-6 in the Lone Star Conference, while MSU is now 4-19 overall and 4-13 in the league. The Lions are now 7-0 in divisional play and clinched at least a share of the division championship with other results in the league.
 
The Lions complete the Texoma swing on Saturday at Cameron at 4 p.m. Saturday in Lawton, Okla.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Deonta Terrell (Chicago, Ill.) scored 21 points to lead all scorers on 8-of-14 shooting. He also had two rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and two steals.
- Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) earned his sixth double-double of the season and third in succession with 15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
- Alberto Moreno (Ingenio, Gran Canaria) scored in double digits for the third straight game with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
- Josh Winbush (Lake Charles, La.) came off the bench with his best game in a Lion uniform with 14 points and six rebounds on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor.
- A&M-Commerce shot 30-of-63 (47.6 percent) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from three-point range, and 56.5 percent (13-of-23) at the free throw line.
- The Lions had a 40-37 rebounding advantage and outscored the Mustangs in the paint, 40-22.
 
HEAD COACH JARET von ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Midwestern State was the hotter shooting team in the first half, going on separate runs of seven and nine points. The latter came on a trio of three-pointers in the span of one minute after A&M-Commerce had previously cut the lead to one point. MSU's largest lead of the night game at the 9:06 mark of the first half, when Trae Jones' third straight long range shot made it a 25-15 advantage for the hosts. Alex Peavy (Smithson Valley) immediately snuffed the rally with a trey of his own for the Lions.
 
Stewart started a rally for A&M-Commerce with a contested jumper in the paint. This was the catalyst for a 13-3 Lion surge, and his jumper at the 3:39 mark put the Lions back in front, 31-30. The teams traded the lead for the next two minutes, but the Lions closed the frame by scoring the last four points in a row to take a 37-34 lead into the halftime locker room.
 
A Terrell three-point play put the Lion lead at six points in the first minute of the second half before the Mustangs went on their next rally. The home side scored 10 of the next 12 points, and led 44-42 with 16 minutes left in the game.
 
The Lions flipped the lead back on a basket by Winbush and two straight fastbreak layups by Terrell. MSU cut the lead back down to one point before a pair of layups by Winbush and a layup by Carius Key (Irving – MacArthur) put the Lions back up by seven points at 54-47 with 12:48 to play.
 
While the home team could sneak back into the game by narrowing the margin to as few as three points, the Lions were able to keep them at arms' length. With 4:35 to play, the lead was at six points before Terrell took over. He scored five straight points including a three-point play on a dunk to give the Lions their first double digit lead at 70-59 with 3:30 to go.
 
As the final minutes progressed, the Lions held the home team off, picking up the nine-point win and the divisional championship.