Lions Win Home Opener Over Henderson State

Three members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team scored in double digits as the host Lions posted a 74-57 win over Henderson State at the A&M-Commerce Field House.

A&M-Commerce (6-1) junior Brian Singleton scored a team-high 21 points to lead the Lions. He was joined in double digits by seniors Cardell Hunter and Sammy Jackson, who each had 10 points. Plus, Singleton had five assists and four rebounds; plus, Hunter had a game-high eight assists in the win.

Henderson State (4-5) got a double double from Lance Smith, who had 26 points and 15 rebounds in the loss. Off the bench, Jeff Shelton and Darnei Bates had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Lions built an early 31-9 advantage to start the contest as they held Henderson State to 15.7% shooting from the field and four turnovers in the opening 14 minutes.

A&M-Commerce hit five three pointers as they took a 37-23 lead into the intermission. Singleton was a perfect three-for-three, Dallas Hunter and Kevin Hayden each hit one.

In addition, they outrebounded HSU by a 27 to 15 margin as senior Justin Wilkerson had 12 rebounds of his game-high 15 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Henderson State came out of the halftime break with a 9-2 run to cut the A&M-Commerce lead to seven, 39-32, with 16:24 to go.

The remained around single digits until sophomore Brad Hambrick knocked down a three pointer to spark a 12-3 spurt that extended the lead to 17, 58-41, with 8:06 remaining.

The closest the Reddies would get as close as 12 as the Lions would win their home opener for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign.

Next, A&M-Commerce returns to the rigors of the Lone Star Conference on Saturday in a crossover game against Abilene Christian at 4 p.m.