ALLEN– The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team came the closest they had come in three tries, but fell to UT Permian Basin 76-63 on Saturday in the semifinal round of the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament. The Lions fell behind early but battled back into the game in the second half before falling short.
The loss drops A&M-Commerce to 19-10 on the season and they are eliminated from tournament play. The Falcons jump to 25-5 on the year and advance to the LSC Championship Final played on Sunday.
The Lions now look toward their seeding in the NCAA Tournament field, which will be released Sunday night. A watching event will be held in room 103 of the Field House at 9:15 p.m. Sunday as the Lions look to learn their potential NCAA destination.
The Lions were ranked sixth in the South Central Region on March 1. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the first round of the NCAA tournament, played at the site of the No. 1 seed in the region. The tournament begins on March 11 at a site yet to be determined.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Malik Albert led the Lions with 18 points, shooting 7-of-17 from the field.
- Trey Seymore had 16 points and six rebounds. Marquieth Russell had 10 rebounds to lead the Lions.
- Daquane Willford had seven points and Dorian Armstrong had six points and seven rebounds.
- The Lions trailed by as many as 19 early in the second half but battled to get the game down to a single digit deficit with 13 minutes to play.
- A&M-Commerce shot 35 percent from the field and 54 percent from the foul line in the game.
- The Lions won the turnover battle, forcing 15 UTPB turnovers.
- The Lions scored the first basket of the game but that was their only lead. The Lions outscored UTPB in the second half.
- James McPherson led UTPB with 19 points. Daeshon Francis had 17 points and Josh Morris added 15 points for the Falcons.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions were the first on the board. Seymore had the first six points for the Lions. The Lion defense was strong, forcing five early misses. However, three early turnovers by A&M-Commerce kept the Falcons on top early.
Albert also started strong. He had back-to-back buckets inside the paint. Both teams had five buckets in the first seven minutes. The Lions needed just eight shots to make five while UTPB needed 16. UTPB had five early offensive rebounds to give themselves extra opportunities. With twelve minutes to go in the half, the teams were tied at 13.
A four-point play from the Falcons pushed the UTPB lead to five with nine minutes to play in the half. After a hot shooting start, the Lions started to struggle from the field, missing seven shots in a row. UTPB in turn started to make more of its attempts and went on a 10-0 run to take an 11-point lead with six minutes to play in the first half.
After making five of their first eight shots, the Lions went just 6-of-24 the rest of the first half. A buzzer beater three by the Falcons sent the Lions into halftime down 41-27.
Albert led the Lions with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Seymore added eight points and four rebounds. McPherson had 14 points to lead UTPB and Francis added 11 for the Falcons.
The teams were tied with six turnovers in the first half but UTPB converted them into nine points. The Lions had just two points off of turnovers.
UTPB scored six of the first seven points to bring their lead to 19 early in the second half. The teams then traded points through the next six minutes. The teams even traded three-point plays on back-to-back possessions.
The Lions then went on a run. A three from Albert was followed by a four-point play from Seymore. Albert then had a steal and a monstrous dunk to bring the lead down to single digits for the first time since the six-minute mark of the first half. The Lions trailed 51-43 with 13 minutes to play.
The Lions hit a slump in the next three minutes, going scoreless. UTPB capitalized bringing its lead back up to 16 points. The teams traded points for much of the rest of the game but the Lions couldn't overcome the deficit. A&M-Commerce continued to battle until the final buzzer sounded.