Magnolia, Arkansas

A 22-4 run midway through the second half sparked the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team to a 74-64 win over Southern Arkansas on Saturday night in Magnolia, Arkansas.

A&M-Commerce (3-6) senior Champ Sylvester led four Lions in double digits with a game-high 17 points - 11 of which came in the second half - and eight rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Kevin Widemond, who added 15, Scooby Johnson, who scored 14 - 12 of which came in the second half - and Lance Jackson added 12. In the win, the Lions capitalized on a 46-18 advantage on points in the paint.

Southern Arkansas (5-3) utilized 12 players in the contest. Mori Turpin led the Muleriders with 15 points; Cory Green added 14 and Cameron Butler chipped in 11.

When the Muleriders' Brandon Williams hit a three pointer with 16:26 left in the contest put SAU in front 43-39, A&M-Commerce retaliated with a 15-2 spurt, seven of the points coming from Sylvester, to put the Lions in front 54-49 with 12:37 remaining. The Lions would extend the margin to as much as 14, but Southern Arkansas would get no closer than nine for the remainder of the contest.

After an exchange of three pointers to start the contest, A&M-Commerce scored the next nine points for an early 12-3 advantage. The Muleriders answered the A&M-Commerce run with a 10-0 spurt to take a 13-12 lead. The two teams would exchange the lead seven more times throughout the first 20 minutes.

For the eighth game in a row, the Lions went into the intermission with an advantage. A&M-Commerce held a 35-33 lead over the Muleriders.

Widemond led the Lions with 12 first half points as A&M-Commerce shot 51.9% from the field in the first 20 minutes. At the break, the Lions outscored SAU, 20-8 on points in the paint and 11-2 on second-chance efforts.

The Lions are idle until December 29th when they will take on Alabama-Huntsville in Austin, Texas in the first day of the St. Edward's Tournament at 1:15 p.m. Both games of the tournament will be broadcast on KETR and ww.ketr.org.