COMMERCE – Khaliq Abdul-Mateen set the East Texas A&M men's basketball program record for most career games played in the 65-55 loss to the Lamar Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House.
 
Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes) appeared in his 126^th game on Saturday, surpassing Larry McGhee, who played in 125 games from 1974-78. The Lions also recognized the 1954-55 NCAA National Championship team on Saturday afternoon.
 
The first point of the game was not scored until the 17:23 mark and the Lions built a 7-3 lead with 14:04 left in the first, but a 13-0 run by the Cardinals put them ahead 16-7 with 10:48 to play in the first.
 
Despite the Lions cutting the deficit down to two points at the 6:42 mark, 21-19, the Cardinals scored 10 in a row, to lead by 12, their largest lead in the first half. Lamar swept the season series against the Lions in each of the last two seasons and improves to 16-10 overall and 11-4 in conference play.
 
The Lions fall to 3-23 in conference play and 1-14 overall. Based on the results around the Southland Conference on Saturday, the Lions have been eliminated from competing in the eight-team SLC Tournament.
 
TJ Thomas (Memphis, Tenn.) scored 11 points with four assists to lead the Lions, while Evan Phelps (Duncanville) added 10 points and four rebounds. The Lions shot 41.2 percent from the field, 6 for 24 from outside, and 7 for 14 at the line.
 
Lamar's Alexis Marmolejos led the team with 13 points and Andrew Hollifield added 10 points and five rebounds. Lamar shot 40.3 percent from the field, 23.5 percent from outside, and 73.3 percent at the line.
 

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The Lions welcome SFA on Monday at 6:30 p.m. before hitting the road for the final time in 2024-25 season next week. Tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/tickets.