LAKE CHARLES, La. – Eight made free throws in the overtime period for the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team were just enough to give the Lions an 82-80 win over the McNeese Cowboys on Saturday afternoon at the Legacy Center.
 
A&M-Commerce scored the first point of overtime at the free throw line, but the Cowboys scored the next four to go up 76-73. The Lions did not have a field goal made through the first three minutes of overtime and missed four of their seven free throw attempts in the first three minutes.
 
Alonzo Dodd (St. Paul, Minn.) made two free throws to pull the Lions to 80-79 with 35.7 seconds to go. After both teams called timeouts, the Lions forced a turnover and Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) drew a shooting foul. He made both free throws to put the Lions ahead 81-80. He came up with a steal on the other end. He was fouled and made his first free throw push the lead up to two.
 
Demonia intentionally missed the second free throw, but his attempt did not touch the rim, so the Cowboys had a chance to inbound the play and Zach Scott attempted a three-pointer from near half court and it bounced off the rim.  
 
The Lions, who trailed by as much as 15 in the first half, improve to 2-1 in Southland Conference play and 6-11 overall. They remain a perfect 3-0 in overtime games this season. The Cowboys recovered from a nine-point deficit in the second half to tie it with a second left, but falls to 5-11 on the season and drops its first conference game of the season, they are 2-1 as well.
 
McNeese led 6-0 to start the game and held a nine-point lead with 14:33 to go in the first half. The largest lead for the Cowboys of 27-12 came at the 10:33 mark. The Lions scored the next nine to pull to 27-23 on and-one by Tommie Lewis (Vero Beach, Fla.), who drilled a three-pointer with 31 seconds to go to push the Lion deficit down to 37-34, which was the first time the scoring margin was within one possession since 6-3.
 
Demonia, who came into the second in the Southland in scoring with an average of 15.9 points per game, had 16 in just the first half, shooting 6 for 8 from the field and 3 for 5 from distance.
 
The Lions outshot the Cowboys, 50 percent to 46.7 percent in the first half.
 
The Cowboys scored the first five points of the second half to go up by eight, but the Lions trimmed it down to five on a three-pointer by Dodd. Lewis drilled another three-pointer at the 11:51 mark of the second half, to bring the game back down to three points since halftime.
 
Luka Vasic (Pirot, Serbia) brought the Lions down to two for the first time all game with an and-one with 11:05 to go and Kalen Williams (Augusta, Ga.) tied the game for the first time since the opening tip at 54-54. The 8-0 run continued for the Lions as Vasic swished in a three-pointer to give them a 57-54 lead, their first of the game. He drilled another three-pointer with 9:02 to go to push the lead up to 60-56. The largest lead of the game for the Lions was nine points and it came with 4:33 to go.
 
The Cowboys pulled to within two in the final minute of the game twice and Zach Scott swished in a layup with 1.2 seconds left to tie the game at 72 and send it to overtime.
 
Demonia scored 32 points and has averaged 32.5 points per game in the two Lion conference wins. He also recorded eight rebounds, two assists, and three steals, while drawing nine fouls. Lewis finished the game with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, and a steal.
 
Vasic totaled 12 points as well as three rebounds and two assists. JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) had five rebounds as well as two points, while Jerome Brewer, Jr. (Camden, N.J.) had five points and five rebounds.
 
For McNeese, Harwin Francois scored 18, while Scott and Trae English had 17 and Christian Shumate scored 16.
 
The Lions outshot the Cowboys, 47.4 percent to 45.7 percent, and had the 36-35 edge in rebounds. The Lion bench scored 13 points, while the Cowboys scored two.


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The road trip for the Lions continues Thursday at Houston Christian with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. against the Huskies.