A&M-Commerce | Men's Basketball
DALLAS – The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team saw a last-chance shot go missing in the final seconds in a 79-78 loss to St. Mary's University in Moody Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Lions fall to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Lone Star Conference with the loss, while the Rattlers are now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the league.
A&M-Commerce will now host St. Edward's on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Field House in Commerce.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Lions shot 50.8% from the floor in the game, making 30-of-59 shots in the contest. They made 17-of-28 shots in the second half, good for a 60.7% rate.
Deon Barrett (Lancaster) led the Lions with 19 points and five assists, also grabbing four rebounds.
Darnell Wright (Chicago, Ill.) notched his first double-double as a Lion with 14 points and 12 rebounds, including six offensive rebounds.
Wayne Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored 15 points with four rebounds and four steals off the bench.
There were eight lead changes and five ties in the game, with neither team ever gaining a double-digit lead.
A&M-Commerce had a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The opening minutes of the game were fast and furious, and the Lions used a 10-2 run to take a six-point lead inside the first four minutes. Wright made a basket in the paint, Barrett and Alex Peavy (Smithson Valley) drained three-pointers, and Terrell made a layup to put the Lions ahead 12-6.
St. Mary's took the lead at 15-14 on a fast-break three-pointer with 13:35 to play, but a Wright layup immediately took the lead back. With 11 minutes to play in the half, the Rattlers went on a eight-point rally to go ahead 26-19, but the Lions fought back to within one possession less than four minutes later. Josh Win-bush (Lake Charles, La.) cut the lead to one point at the 4:44 mark, but St. Mary's closed the half on a 5-1 rally. The Rattlers led 36-31 at the break.
After the Rattlers scored the second half's first field goal, the Lions went on a 12-0 rally to swing the lead. A fast-break alley-oop by Terrell was a highlight of the run, and Stewart's basket in the paint put the Lions ahead 45-40 at the 15:46 mark.
Leo Lara (Santa Rosa) hit a fastbreak three-pointer at the 11:54 mark to give the Lions a 53-45 lead. That eight-point margin was the largest lead by either team at any point in the contest.
The Rattlers scored the next six points to close to within two points and set up a great showdown down the stretch. Back-to-back triples by StMU stole away a Lion lead near the midpoint of the period, but they could not push that advantage ahead to any more than five points.
Winbush hammered home a dunk and Barrett hit an outside jumper to cut the lead to one with five minutes left at 66-65, but the Lions couldn't equalize. In the final minutes, the deficit was narrowed to one point on three separate occasions, including the last possession of the game.
After the Rattlers missed a pair of free throws with six seconds on the clock, Barrett quickly drove down the floor for the chance at a game winner, but a contested shot was missed, allowing St. Mary's to escape with a win.