ABILENE – The Abilene Christian Wildcats downed the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team by a score of 83-64 on Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum in the first meeting between the two teams since 2013.
 
The Lions drop their third in a row and fall to 4-7 on the season with three non-conference games remaining, while the Wildcats improve to 6-5 on the season, with four wins over Division I opponents.
 
Saturday marked the 83^rd meeting between the Lions and the Wildcats and first since 2013, when the two teams were part of the Lone Star Conference. The Lions hold a 48-35 advantage in the series despite the loss on Saturday.
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Abilene Christian stayed in the front throughout the game, but the Lions stayed within one possession of the Wildcats until a 19-2 run put them up by 19 points. The Lions were held scoreless for a stretch of over six minutes in the first half.
 
Down 19 in the final minute of the first half, JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) knocked down a three-pointer and converted an and-one attempt for a personal 6-0 run and trimmed the deficit to 39-26 at the half.
 
The Lions were able to get the deficit down to single digits in the second half, but a 19-4 run by ACU pushed the lead back up to 20. Abilene Christian shot 50.9 percent in the game and led by as much as 26 in the game.
 
Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) led the Lions with 15 points on 60 percent shooting from the field. He also tied for the team lead in rebounds with Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes), both had four. Demonia and Ant Abraham (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) led the way with four assists each.
 
The Lion bench scored 30 points the game, having scored 20 or more points off the bench every game this season. Romer Rosario tallied 14 points, while Abdul-Mateen and Tommie Lewis (Vero Beach, Fla.) scored six each.
 
C.J. Roberts (Irving – Richland) scored 12 points for the Lions, making his fifth start of the season. For the Wildcats, Immanuel Allen scored 19 points and all but one starters reached double-digit scoring.
 
The Lions end a 13-day stretch in which they played five games, while traveling over 5,000 miles and playing in three different time zones and four states. A&M-Commerce went 2-3 in that stretch.


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The Lions enjoy a nine-day break, before heading east to Indiana to participate in the Indiana Classic on December 19-20. A&M-Commerce plays the host, Purdue Fort Wayne on December 19 at 7 p.m. eastern time.