OKLAHOMA CITY –  The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team roared back from a first half deficit with a nice comeback to earn a 69-55 win over Oklahoma Christian University in the Eagles' Nest on Thursday evening.
 
The Lions move to 17-10 overall and 13-8 in the LSC with the win, while OC is now 9-16 overall and 8-13 in league play.
 
The divisional champion Lions will close the regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions held an opponent under 60 points and won for the first time since the 2017 LSC Tournament Quarterfinal win over Cameron.
- Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 23 points and grabbed six rebounds, going 7-of-11 from the field and 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
- Deonta Terrell (Chicago, Ill.) netted 13 points and a team high seven rebounds.
- Leo Lara (Santa Rosa) scored 10 points to round out the Lions' double-digit scorers.
- A&M-Commerce shot 47.7 percent from the field (21-of-44) in the game, including a 61.1 percent (11-of-18) conversion rate in the second half. The Lions succeeded despite missing eight of their first nine shots.

HEAD COACH JARET von ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME
CLICK HERE to hear coach von Rosenberg's postgame comments
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions' poor shooting early allowed the Eagles to jump out to a 15-point lead in the first nine-and-a-half minutes of action, as the home side led 19-4 with 10:30 remaining in the first half.
 
From the 8:30 mark, the Lions went on a 17-2 run over a 5:50 span, tying the game up. Lara and Terrell hit three-pointers and four straight points by Stewart knotted the game up at 25-all with 2:40 left in the first period. Three late free throws allowed OC to take a 30-27 lead into the halftime locker room. During the Lion rally, the Eagles missed seven consecutive field goals.
 
A&M-Commerce put the pressure on its hosts early in the second half with a 14-1 rally. Stewart scored nine points in the surge, and the Lions took their first double figure lead at 44-34 with 11:31 to play.
 
From that point, the Lion lead would never shrink to fewer than nine points. A 10-3 Lion used three-pointers from Terrell and Alberto Moreno (Ingenio, Gran Canaria) to put the advantage at 58-42 with 6:23 to go.
 
OC scored six straight to get the margin back to 10 points and bring the home crowd back into the contest, but the Lions immediately snuffed out their enthusiasm with an 8-1 rally. Terrell and Stewart hit jumpers in the paint and Josh Winbush (Lake Charles, La.) and Stewart made free throws, putting the Lion lead at 66-49 in the final two minutes. The Lions allowed only a pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes, with the Eagles hitting a long heave just before the buzzer.