Lions Win Home Finale, 65-59
Three members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball team – including two seniors: Ronnie Morgan and Cardell Hunter (pictured) – scored in double figures to lead the host Lions to a 65-59 win over Southwestern Oklahoma on Wednesday night in the John McLendon Senior Night at the Field House.
Morgan, Hunter and teammate Sammy Jackson were recognized in pre-game ceremonies as well as Charles Goodall and Marques Haynes, who were recognized at halftime.
A&M-Commerce (18-8, 7-4 LSC North) found itself trailing for most of the first half until a 3 pointer by Brad Hambrick put the Lions ahead 22-19. The 3 pointer by Hambick sparked the home team as they went on a 9-2 run to close out the first half. In the run, four of the points came from Hunter and two more from Morgan.
Morgan and freshman Preston Whitley shared team-high honors with 18 points and Hunter added 11 in the win. Hunter also had seven rebounds, five assists and three steals for the cause. Morgan added six more boards and two blocked shots. To go along with his 18 points, Whitley had seven boards.
As a team, the Lions were very unselfish with 17 assists on 23 field goals and took care of the ball with just eight turnovers.
Southwestern Oklahoma State (11-15, 5-6 LSC North) had a game-high 22 from Damian Henderson. Curtis Nickerson and Ty Pace, who added 16 and 11 points, respectively, joined him in double figures.
The Lions extended its seven-point halftime lead and put it at double digits by scoring the first nine points of the second half. The lead remained double digits until Henderson hit a jumper with 9:06 to cut the advantage to 48-40 with 9:06 to go. A&M-Commerce managed to extend its lead into double digits but the Bulldogs had an answer.
Trailing 60-45 with 5:11 to go after an emphatic dunk by Ronnie Morgan, SWOSU went on a 11-1 spurt to cut the deficit to 61-57 with 1:18 remaining.
The Lions answered the spurt as junior Brian Singleton hit his only field goal of the game with the shot clock set to expire for a six-point lead, 63-57 with 44 seconds to go in the contest. Both teams made two free throws down the stretch, which proved for the final margin of the contest.
A&M-Commerce will close out its 2009-10 regular season on Saturday at 4 pm when they travel to Lawton, Oklahoma to face Cameron University.
