COMMERCE – C.J. Roberts sent the fans inside the Field House happy on Saturday afternoon after sinking a last-second game winner, just before the buzzer, for the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball in the 77-76 win over the Houston Christian Huskies.
HCU had a 14-point lead in the first few minutes of the second half, but the Lions tied the game at 53 with 8:55 left and there were seven ties and 13 lead changes from that point of the game.
Houston Christian's Brycen Long drilled a three pointer to take a 74-73 lead with 41 seconds left.
Kalen Williams (Augusta, Ga.) knocked down a layup on the other end to regain the lead for the Lions. HCU drew a foul on the next possession and Maks Klanjscek made both free throws to give HCU a 76-75 lead with 4.5 seconds left.
Roberts (Irving – Richland) took the inbound pass and drove down the court and hit the game-winning layup. He was fouled on the shot as well with 0.2 seconds and intentionally missed the free throw attempt to give the Lions their second straight win and improve to 10-13 overall and 6-3 in Southland play. HCU drops to 7-15 overall and 4-5 in conference.
C.J. ROBERTS GAME-WINNING SHOT
The Lions led the game 4-0, but the Huskies scored the next nine for a 9-4 lead. HCU had a lead as big as 13 in the first half, but an 8-0 run by the Lions cut the lead down to three, before the Huskies pushed the lead back to 11.
Williams had an and-one with 8:55 left to tie the game and made two free throws with 8:18 left to give the Lions their first lead since 4-2. He scored 15 points in the game and led the team with six assists.
Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) led the team with 17 points, also recording three rebounds, one block, and one assist.
JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) totaled 10 points, nine rebounds, and a block in his first start of the season.
Roberts and
Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes) scored eight each off the bench. Long scored 24 for the Huskies, who outshot the Lions, 44.2 percent to 41.7 percent. The Lions shot 77 percent at the line and made 10 three pointers.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
UP NEXT
The Lions head to Nicholls on Thursday at 7 p.m., but are back home for their next two games after that against McNeese and Northwestern State on February 4 and 9, respectively.
-TAMUC-
