COMMERCE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons outscored the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team by nine points in the second half on Monday night to hand the Lions their first loss of the season by a score of 70-61 at the Field House.
 
The Lions fall to 6-1 on the season, they go up against Lone Star Conference teams the rest of the season, the Falcons improve to 7-4, winning the first meeting between the two teams since 2001. Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) led both teams with 22 points, also tallied six rebounds, an assist, and two steals.
 
The Falcons scored 11 of the first 17 points, leading for most of the first half. Their largest lead of the half of nine points came with 11:15 to go in the first half. A 5-0 run by the Lions cut the deficit back down to four, but the Falcons went back up by eight.
 
Jairus Roberson (DeSoto) had 10 of the Lions' 18 points and he cut the lead down to three by scoring four straight points at 21-18. In the final minute of the half, Alphonso Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) knocked down two layups and Augustine Ene (Carrollton – Creekview) hit a jumper at the buzzer to tie at 28. This was the Lions third buzzer-beater of the season.
 
The tie at halftime was the first since 6-6 at the 13:27 mark.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Lions took the 32-30 lead on a layup by Demonia and made it five on a three pointer. He also made another three pointer at the 14:30 mark to give the Lions a 40-33 lead. Demonia scored 10 points in the first five minutes and 30 seconds of the second half.
 
Trailing by five at the 13:17 mark, the Falcons put together a 13-0 run to take a 51-43 lead. Zack Paulson had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, he also had three steals. Their largest lead of the game was 11 points. A&M-Commerce did not trim the deficit down to one possession in the last nine minutes.
 
A&M-Commerce went 5 for 25 from beyond-the-arc and missed seven of their 21 free throw attempts. The Falcons knocked down 18 of their 20 attempts at the line and outshot the Lions, 41.4 percent to 36.8 percent, from the field.
 
Willis had 10 points in the game as well as six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Roberson totaled 16 points and three steals. Clashon Gaffney (Clarksville) blocked four shots and grabbed five rebounds.



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A&M-Commerce heads to Wichita Falls on Thursday night to face Midwestern State at 7:30 p.m.