SAN ANTONIO – The East Texas A&M University men's basketball team suffered a 65-53 loss to the UIW Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at the McDermott Center.
 
The loss to the Cardinals rounded out the first weekend of Southland Conference play for the Lions, who play three more non-conference games before resuming SLC action in January.
 
The first four points of the game were scored by the Cardinals, who did not trail in the game. The Lions scored the next two on a pair of free throws, but found themselves trailing 11-2 with 17:02 left in the first half. The Cardinals pushed their lead to as high as 19 in the first half, but the Lions scored the final five points of the half to trail 39-25 at the half.
 
The Lions continued the scoring run in the second half to score the first five points in less than a minute and cut the deficit down to 39-30, though the next eight points were scored by UIW.
 
A 6-0 run was strung together by the Lions to make it 51-46 with 8:23 left in the game, but the Cardinals never let the margin get within one possession. East Texas A&M hit a three-pointer from Scooter Williams Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to make it 59-53 with 2:08 left, but the final six points of the game were scored by the Cardinals.
 
The Lions fall to 1-9 on the season and 0-2 in Southland Conference play, while the Cardinals are 5-4 and 1-1 in SLC action. The Lions had won both games over the Cardinals last season.
 
Williams Jr. was the leading scorer for the Lions with 10, while Josh Taylor (Atlanta, Ga.) added eight, Demarco Bethea (Sellars, S.C.) scored seven with team-best five rebounds, and Mykol Sanchez-Vega (Orlando, Fla.) added nine points off the bench.
 
Davion Bailey led the Cardinals with 19 points, while Dylan Hayman scored 11.
 
UP NEXT
The Lions play the next two at home, hosting South Alabama next Sunday at 11 a.m. and Abilene Christian at 11 a.m. on December 18. Tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/tickets.