HAMMOND, La. – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team was downed 79-73 by Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
 
Southeastern scored 52 points in the second half to snap A&M-Commerce's two-game winning streak and drop the Lions to 8-13 overall and 4-3 in Southland play. Southeastern improves to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in Southland games.
 
Luka Vasic (Pirot, Serbia) made back-to-back three pointers to give the Lions an early 6-0 lead. Southeastern tied the game at 10 and then went on to lead 19-11. A&M-Commerce fought back to take a 22-21 lead and had a 30-27 lead at the end of the first half, in which there were four lead changes. A&M-Commerce scored 21 of its 30 points from the distance.
 
Southeastern scored eight of the first 10 in the second half, but A&M-Commerce went on a 5-0 run to go back up 41-39 at the 15:43 mark of the second half. After both teams shot at or below 40 percent in the first half, both teams shot above 65 percent through the first eight minutes of the second half.
 
A 13-3 run by Southeastern helped SLU take a 60-52 lead, which was the largest lead for either team to that point. A&M-Commerce scored the next five to make it a one-possession game, but SLU continued to lead and extended it to 70-61 with 4:35 left in the game. A&M-Commerce went on a 7-0 over the next two minutes to pull to within two, but SLU scored the next six to extend its lead back to eight.
 
There was a total of 11 lead changes and eight ties in the game, with both teams leading by at least seven in the game.
 
JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) scored 16 off the bench for A&M-Commerce, while Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) scored 14, and Vasic scored 12. Demonia led the team with six rebounds, while Kalen Williams (Augusta, Ga.) had nine points.
 
Jerome Brewer, Jr. (Camden, N.J.) recorded five assists. For Southeastern, five scored in double digits, with Sami Pissis scoring 16 and both Roscoe Eastmond and Alec Woodard added 15. Roger McFarlane had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
 
A&M-Commerce outshot Southeastern, 49.1 percent to 46.4 percent, but missed seven of its 12 free throws, while Southeastern shot 19 for 23 at the line.


POST GAME INTERVIEW
 
UP NEXT
The Lions remain on the road to face Lamar on Thursday at 7 p.m.