Commerce, Texas

Texas A&M-Commerce extended its home winning streak to four games with a 78-64 win over East Central on Wednesday night at the A&M-Commerce Field House.

The Lions (12-12, 5-4 LSC North) landed four players in double figures in the Valentine's Day win. Kevin Widemond, who traditionally scores most of his points from beyond the arc, scored a team-high 17 - eight of which came in the paint. He was joined by Lance Jackson, who added 16 for his fifth double-digit output in six contests; plus Lamar Searight and Bobby Joshua added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Texas A&M-Commerce also got a spark off the bench from Cedric Griffin, who came up with four rebounds and dished out two assists in a season-high 21 minutes of action.

Despite the taller frontline of ECU, Texas A&M-Commerce avenged the Tigers in a few categories from the earlier meeting. The Lions outrebounded the Tigers, 44-38 - earlier this year, the Tigers outrebounded the Lions by 22. In addition, they outscored the Tigers by 20, 38-18 on points in the paint and in the earlier meeting, the Lions were outscored by 10, 28-18.

The Tigers (10-14, 2-8 LSC North) got a game-high 22 from Jason Thomas, who made five three pointers in the loss. He was joined in double figures by Ian Adams and Terrell Carpenter, who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.

After an early 4-2 lead, Texas A&M-Commerce trailed for most of the opening 20 minutes until an 11-2 run towards the closing minutes. Behind 16-8 after a Thomas three pointer, scored seven second-chance points on an 11-2 run to take a 21-18 lead. The Lions took the lead when Leonard Bishop snagged the ball away from the Tigers' Brandon Bingle and came down the court to hit a three pointer and put the Lions ahead 21-18 with 5:25 left in the opening half. The Tigers ended the half on an 8-3 run to take a 32-29 lead into the intermission.

Back-to-back three pointers by Widemond to start the second half put the Lions in front 35-32 with 19:33 left in the contest. The two teams battled back and forth until a decisive 14-0 run put the Lions in front for the remainder of the contest. During the run, Texas A&M-Commerce held ECU to only one second-chance opportunity and scored eight points inside the paint on the taller Tiger squad.

The next two contests for the Lions are on the road, first they will take on nationally-ranked Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 8 pm in Durant, Oklahoma.