FRISCO – The eighth-seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team saw its season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Championship with an 85-72 loss to top-seeded West Texas A&M at the Comerica Center on Friday evening.
The Lions finish the 2019-20 season with an overall record of 18-12. A&M-Commerce was making its LSC-record 41st appearance in the league's postseason tournament.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Lions shot 50.9 percent (29-of-57) from the field, making one more field goal than WT. The Buffs made nine three-pointers to the Lions' three and 20 free throws to the Lions' 11.
• Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 91 points on 8-of-13 shooting and also grabbed six rebounds.
• Deonta Terrell (Chicago, Ill.) had 14 points and five rebounds.
• Darnell Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored 11 points with three rebounds and Austin Grandstaff (Rockwall) scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
• A&M-Commerce had a 35-28 rebounding advantage but lost the turnover battle 20-14.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the Buffs scored the game's opening points, the Lions responded with a strong rally, scoring the next eight points on a pair of buckets by Stewart and baskets by Terrell and Leo Lara (Santa Rosa) to go ahead 8-3. From there, the Lions' scoring slowed down while the Buffs heated up. WT went on a 20-6 rally to go ahead 34-22 thanks to outside shooting.
The Lions penetrated the Buffalo defense well throughout the half, but physical play inside did not result in points or fouls. A&M-Commerce battled through the Buffs' defense and cut the lead to single digits inside the final minute but a late three-pointer for WT made it a 37-25 game at the break in favorof the high seed.
The Lions shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26) in the first half and outrebounded the Buffs 18-16, but West Texas made six three-pointers in the half to earn the halftime advantage.
WT opened the second half on a tear, as the Buffs' 18-4 surge in the opening five minutes of the period pushed the lead to 55-29 in West Texas' favor. The Lions fought back, chipping away at the top seed's lead over the next nine minutes.
A Grandstaff fastbreak three-pointer and two straight close range shots from Terrell forced a Buffalo timeout. Stewart went on a personal run with seven points in less than two minutes, and his three-point play with just under seven minutes to play energized the Lion crowd as the lead shrank to 11 points at 65-54 with 6:44 to play.
Unfortunately for the Lions, the Buffs regained their shooting stroke and also held TAMUC without a field goal for over four minutes. WT stretched the lead back to as many as 18 points in the final two minutes, and late Lion baskets were not enough to close the final margin.