COMMERCE – Ten three pointers in the first half from the St. Edward's Hilltoppers were enough to hand the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team an 81-66 loss in the Field House on Thursday night.
 
The Lions have lost two in a row and drop to 16-6 on the season and 8-5 in Lone Star Conference play. The Lions end the day in the third spot in the standings and have a one-game separation to avoid playing in the first round of the LSC Championship. The Hilltoppers improve to 8-7 in conference play, having won two in a row and are 14-11 overall.
 
The Hilltoppers made four of their first six three pointers of the game and had a 15-4 lead at the 15:37 mark of the first half. The Hilltoppers led by as much 17 in the first half.
 
Down 31-14 at the 8:05 mark, the Lions went on a 11-1 run to pull to within seven on a dunk by Rodney Brown (Beaumont – Westbrook) over a span of three minutes, but an and-one on the other end pushed the lead back up to 10.
 
Jake Krafka knocked down six three pointers in the first half as the Hilltoppers shot 10 for 18 from distance in the first half and 18 for 27 from the field. The Lions shot 46.7 percent from the field, but shot 5 for 14 from outside-the-arc and had no free throw attempts. Kafka was held to just two points in the second half.
 
Outside of the opening stretch, the Lions did not get the deficit below seven points. St. Edward's was held to shoot 38.2 percent in the second half, but the Lions were held to shoot 31 percent in the second half. Augustine Ene (Carrollton – Creekview) had 17 points in the second half, including three three pointers.
 
Ene led the team with 20 points, he has surpassed the 1,000 career point mark over his college career, which began at Incarnate Word. He tied with Clashon Gaffney (Clarksville) and Alphonso Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) with five rebounds each to lead the team. Willis had 10 points off the bench and tied with Carson Tuttle (Mukilteo, Wash.) in the team lead in assists, four. Gaffney had six points and four blocks as well.
 
Tuttle totaled five points, two rebounds, and a steal along with four assists. Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) had seven points, three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Jairus Roberson (DeSoto) tallied six points, two rebounds, and an assist.
 
The Lion bench scored 22 points. Brown had six points, a rebound, and a steal along with Willis' 10. JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) and Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy Lakes) had a three pointer each. Romer Rosario had two blocks and three rebounds as well.
 
Four Hilltoppers scored in double digits, and Logan Cook had game-high 13 points.
 

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The Lions host Senior Day on Saturday at 4 p.m. against St. Mary's, who comes into the game in a tie for fourth place in the standings.