CORPUS CHRISTI – Facing the defending tournament championships on the road, the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team brought home an 84-80 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday night at the American Bank Center.
 
Coming into Thursday, the Islanders had won eight in a row and sat in sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference standings. This is just the second loss at home all season for the Islanders, who are now tied for first place with a record of 12-4.
 
The Lions, having won the first two games on this road trip against the defending conference champion (Nicholls) and now the defending conference tournament champion (A&M-Corpus Christi), are 9-7 in conference play for a tie for fourth place in the standings with two games to play. The Lions and the Islanders meet again next week.  
 
The Lions led early until a 5-0 run gave the Islanders a 18-13 lead with 10:17 left. A&M-Commerce went on an 8-0 run to lead 27-20 on a three pointer by Alex Peavy (San Antonio – Smithson Valley), the largest lead for either team in the first half. A&M-Corpus Christi fought back to tie the game at 28.
 
The Lions scored the next seven to go back up by seven, but the Islanders scored nine of the final 11 of the first half to trail 38-36 at the half.
 
A&M-Commerce started the second half shooting 75.0 percent to start the second half and led by as much as 13. The Lions' largest lead was 18 points with 10 minutes left in the game. The Islanders went on a 7-0 run to trim the deficit and forced A&M-Commerce to call a timeout with 8:24 left. The Islanders pulled back all the way to 65-59.
 
In the final minute, A&M-Corpus Christi pulled to within two points twice, but the Lions made their free throws on each trip to keep the Islanders at bay and collect their second straight win.
 
C.J. Roberts (Irving – Richland) scored 19 points off the bench and shot 11 for 12 at the line. He was 6 for 6 at the line in the final minute of the game. Both Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) and JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) tallied 16 points each. Demonia also recorded seven rebounds, while Kalen Williams (Augusta, Ga.) dished out seven assists.
 
Demonia recorded four assists as well and Williams scored 11. Off the bench, Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes) added four points, four rebounds, and two steals. Jerome Brewer, Jr. (Camden, N.J.) shot 6 for 9 from the field for 13 points.
 
On the Islanders end, Trevian Tennyson scored 22 and Terrion Murdix scored 11. The Lions shot 63 percent from the field, the first time they shot over 60 percent since Jan. 15, 2022, against Eastern New Mexico. The Lion bench outscored the Islanders, 26-11.

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UP NEXT
The Lions play the final road game of the regular season on Saturday in San Antonio against UIW at 4 p.m.