A&M-Commerce (12-5, 1-4 LSC) vs West Texas A&M (8-8, 1-4 LSC)
Saturday, January 25, 2014 • 4:00 p.m.
The Field House (5,000) • Commerce, Texas
Radio: KETR 88.9 FM • Live Stats • Twitter: @Lion_MBB • Game Notes (PDF)
STORY LINES
• The Lions will be looking to put its string of bad fortune to an end against a team that has been a thorn in its side in recent history when it hosts West Texas A&M on Saturday at The Field House.
• This will be the first time under Sam Walker that the Lions have faced the Buffaloes without head coach Rick Cooper, who suddenly retired just seven games into this season. Cooper had spent the last 21 years at WT and closed his career as the Buffs' all-time winningest coach.
THE LAST TIME OUT
• Devondrick Walker set career highs in points and made three-pointers, but a late Eastern New Mexico run was just too much to overcome as the Greyhounds handed the Lions their third straight narrow road loss, 83-78, in Lone Star Conference play on Wednesday at Greyhound Arena. Walker finished with 27 points and six three-pointers to lead all players, and the Lions led 67-63 with just 5:45 to play; however, the Greyhounds went on a quick 10-0 run in 2:08 to regain a lead that they never relinquished. The win marked the first time they had won consecutive games against the Lions since a run of four in a row from the 2002 to 2004 seasons.
UP NEXT
• A&M-Commerce will gladly say farewell to January, but will open February with its toughest test of the year when it takes on undefeated and nationally-ranked Tarleton State in Stephenville on Feb. 1. The Lions will then get consecutive chances to avenge losses when it hosts Cameron on Feb. 5 and goes to Midwestern State on Feb. 8.
QUICK HITS
•
Devondrick Walker set career highs with 27 points and six three-point buckets on Wednesday at ENMU. His 27 points is the most by a Lion in a single game this year, and just the fourth time in the past three seasons any Lion has totaled that much in a game since the 2011-12 campaign.
• On Wednesday at Eastern New Mexico, the Lions dropped the game despite shooting a higher percentage from the field (47.2-36.1) than the Greyhounds, and winning the rebound battle (44-39). It is the first time since a 76-75 loss to A&M-Kingsville on Feb. 6, 2012, that the Lions dropped a game despite outshooting and outrebounding it's opponent - a span of 52 games.
• Wednesday's 83-78 loss at Eastern New Mexico was A&M-Commerce's third straight defeat by five points or less. It is the first time since the 1969-70 season that the Lions have dropped three straight LSC games by five or less points, and only the fourth time overall in that span.
• The Lions got off to an 8-0 start to the season, the second best start to a season for A&M-Commerce in program history.
Series vs. WT: West Texas A&M leads, 49-28
Last 5 Meetings
2012-13 WEST TEXAS A&M L 54-39
2012-13 at West Texas A&M L 67-53
2011-12 WEST TEXAS A&M L 70-60
2011-12 at West Texas A&M L 77-72
2010-11 WEST TEXAS A&M L 76-75
Last Meeting
West Texas A&M held A&M-Commerce to 39 total points, including just 18 in the first half, in a 54-39 victory on Senior Night at The Field House. The win improved the Buffs 16-9 (8-9 LSC), with the Lions falling to 14-13 (7-10 LSC). The 39 points by the Lions marked the lowest point total
Sam Walker's tenure is the least amount of points the Lions have scored in a single game since the 1996-97 season when they fell to Tarleton State, 60-39.
Tyrie Wooten managed to get into double figures with 13 points, and
Andrew Davis had 10, but the Lions shot just 26.2 percent from the field and hit just 1 of 12 three-point tries.
Series Notes
The Buffaloes have won the last six meetings with the Lions, and 10 of the last 12 overall dating back to the 2005-06 season. A&M-Commerce has not had a win over WT in Canyon since the 2004-05 season.
DEVONDRICK NEARING EXCLUSIVE COMPANY: In addition to Devondrick Walker's six threes in his 27-point outburst at Eastern New Mexico, the senior guard also canned all seven of his free throws, moving him closer to eligibility for the LSC and national lead in free throw percentage. He is currently 36 of 38 (94.7) from the foul stripe this year, but needs to average 2.5 attempts per game to qualify for league and national leaders. He is currently averaging 2.2 attempts per game. Should he qualify and maintain his pace, his 94.7 percentage would be good enough to be the national leader and break Mike Micarelli's single-season free throw percentage mark at A&M-Commerce of 93.5 percent set in 1983-84.
WALL OF MACAULEY: In addition to his 9.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, A&M-Commerce big man Christian Macauley has been stellar as the Lions' last line of defense. The junior from Washington D.C. leads the Lone Star Conference with 2.8 blocks per game after adding one more to his season total at Cameron. He has at least one block in every game this season for the Lions, with multiple blocks in 13 of A&M-Commerce's 17 games to date. Lee Johnson holds the single-season school record with 84 blocks (2.8 bpg), set in 1978-79. With a minimum of 10 games remaining in the season, Macauley will have to average 3.8 blocks per game the rest of the way to surpass Johnson's all-time total.
COACH WALKER AMONG LSC ELITE: Head coach Sam Walker became the all-time winningest coach in A&M-Commerce history last season with his 202nd victory, pushing him past former Lion head coach Jim Grudger, and in two less seasons. With each victory he continues to distance himself from the other 19 coaches in Lion history with 218 victories to his credit. His win total is second among current coaches in the Lone Star Conference, trailing only Tarleton State's Lonn Reisman's 547 victories.
CALLING LONG DISTANCE: The Lions have not been afraid to step out and let it fly from beyond the arc this season with its 364 three-point tries ranking second in the LSC. Still, they have managed to be efficient with them too, hitting at a cool 34.3 percent from three-point range, a mark that ranks fourth in the league. A&M-Commerce has made at least 10 threes in seven games this year with a season-high 12 in a six-point win over Southern Arkansas on November 13. In all, four Lions with at least 30 three-point tries are hitting better than 34 percent of those shots, led by LaDon Carnegie's 44.4 percent.
STREAK SNAPPED: Tyrie Wooten went 10-for-10 from the foul line in the Lion's win over A&M-Kingsville, a mark tied for the third-best single-game free throw effort in the Lone Star this season, but it's not even tops on his own team, trailing LaDon Carnegie's 11-for-11 effort in the second game of the season vs Oklahoma Panhandle State. That 10-for-10 night helped string together 24 consecutive made free throws, a mark that came to an end on Wednesday at Eastern New Mexico.
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT: Halftime deficits have not been much of an issue for A&M-Commerce this season. The Lions have found themselves down at the break of nine of its 17 games, coming back to win in five of those games. It's largest deficit over come of the season was a 15-point margin in its 71-68 win over Henderson State.
ACCEPTING CHARITY: The Lions are doing their fare share of getting to the foul line. In fact, Wednesday's game at Eastern New Mexico was the first time all season the Lions have allowed an opponent more free throws in a game. In all, the Lions 463 free throw attempts are second most in the LSC to only Tarleton State's 492, givng the Lions an average of more than 27 foul shots per game. They rank second in the league with a 73.2 free-throw percentage as a team.
BETTER AS THEY GO: A&M-Commerce has managed to overcome five of nine halftime deficits this season for victories, and when you look at the numbers, it is no surprise. Despite lower efficiency from the field and the foul line, the Lions are avearging 10.5 more points in the second half and have made 33 more field goals and 121 more foul shots in the second half of games than in the opening period this season.
First Half Second Half
PTS 35.9 46.4
FGs 217/500 250/584
FG% 43.4 42.8
3pt% 37.4 32.4
FTs 109/147 230/316
FT% 74.1 72.8
