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Lions stun Texans, advance to LSC title game

The Lions are headed to the Lone Star Conference championship game thanks to a 53-51 upset victory over Tarleton State on March 6 at the Allen Event center. The Lions (23-7) will play Angelo State (26-4), which routed Cameron 76-53 in the other semifinal game played earlier on Friday.

A&M-Commerce led most of the evening, but the game stayed up for grabs until the final possession. A three-point attempt by Texans guard Mo Lee bounced off the rim just before the final buzzer.

Darrell Williams scored 20 points to lead the Lions. The Texans didn’t allow Williams to get much done from the floor (5-13), but the senior forward made the Texans pay for fouling him by going a nifty 10-11 from the free-throw line.

“It played like a championship game,” head coach Sam Walker said. “Played half-court – bothe teams used to being able to score in transition were unable to, so they had to grind it out, and that’s the way the game’s played in March. We haven’t done that very well this year, and tonight we did it probably as well as we’ve done all year.

With options limited in the paint, A&M-Commerce took advantage of some sharpshooting from beyond the arc to take a 35-25 lead at halftime. Six different Lions each sank six three-point shots in the first half.

Tarleton State used a disruptive, full-court defensive approach to break the Lions’ rhythm in the second half. 

On a night when few shooters got good looks at the net, rebounding often determined the success of possessions, and the Lions enjoyed a 31-26 edge on the glass against Tarleton State. Williams paced A&M-Commerce rebounders with 12, while junior forward J.R. Owens hauled down four and four other Lions collected three.

“There’s few people that we play that we haven’t out-rebounded this year, including our exhibition games and that’s a stat that – we have to win that stat,” Walker said.

The only Tarleton State player in double figures was E.J. Reed, who totaled 15 points and four steals.

Tarleton State’s season is far from over. The Texans (27-3) entered the game ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball South Central Region and are a safe bet to earn an invitation to the national tournament.

The Texans entered the LSC tournament seeded No. 1, while the Lions began as the No. 4 seed. Tarleton State had made five appearances in the LSC Championship final and had won the last two.

The Lions will tip off against Angelo State at 5:30 p.m. 

Notes from Lionathletics.com:

  • Darrell Williams logged a double-double for the second consecutive game in the LSC Tournament, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, adding a block and a steal. It was the 21st double-double of the LSC Player of the Year’s season.
  • It was the 18th time this season Carnegie reached double-digit scoring. Carnegie also logged a game-high four steals, which matched his season-high set in the win against Sul Ross State in the third game of the season. Carnegie played a team-high 36 minutes.
  • The game started with both teams struggling from the field. With 13:07 to go in the first half, the teams combined to go 3 of 13 shooting.
  • With the win, the Lions are now 27-32 all-time in the LSC Tournament, and 3-3 in LSC Tournament games held in the Allen Event Center.
  • This was the 63rd game played between the Lions and Texans. The Lions improve their record to 30-33 in the series.
  • Head coach Sam Walker moves to 249-179 overall.    

http://youtu.be/Iyd0jRFkVOE

Mark Haslett has served at KETR since 2013. Since then, the station's news operation has enjoyed an increase in listener engagement and audience metrics, as well recognition in the Texas AP Broadcasters awards.