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No. 24 Lions’ defense clamps down in second half for a 76-64 comeback win over No. 23 Tarleton.
COMMERCE– The No. 24 Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball team defeated No. 23 Tarleton State 76-64 on Thursday night. The Lions trailed by 11 at halftime but excelled both offensively and defensively in the second half to get the 12-point win.
The win brings the Lions to 13-2 on the season and 5-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Texans fall to 12-3 on the season and 3-2 in conference play.
The Lions return to action on Thursday as they travel to Canyon to face No. 8 West Texas A&M. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. at First United Bank Center.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
– Tyree Robinson (Fall River, Mass.) led the Lions with a season-high 26 points. Robinson went ballistic in the second half, scoring all eight of his shots. He finished the game shooting 9-for-13 and also had a team-high eight rebounds. He was a force on the defensive end as well with two blocks and three steals.
– Willie Rooks (Houston – North Forest) had 17 points, including five three-pointers. He also pulled in six rebounds and had four assists.
– Trey Conrod (Kilgore) had 11 points and seven rebounds and had both a block and a steal.
– Reggie Reid (Harlem, Ga.) led the team with seven assists and also had nine points. He was the assister on multiple Lion alley-oop dunks.
– After shooting just 26 percent in the first half for 28 points, the Lions shot 53 percent in the second half.
– The Lions defense held TSU to only one field goal in the final 10 minutes of the game (1-for-10). The Lions finished the last 10 minutes on a 24-9 run.
– The Lions trailed by 11 at halftime. This is the fifth game this season where the Lions have won after trailing at halftime.
HEAD COACH JARET VON ROSENBERG AFTER THE GAME
– On the back and forth nature of the game: “How about the tale of two halves? We’ve talked about it before. It was funny because neither team played 40 minutes. I told the refs pretty early that I had the best seat in the house, getting to watch two really good teams compete at a high level. This game was one we needed to win more than them, just from the standpoint that we’ve got to take care of home court in the Lone Star. It’s so tough to go on the road. They were really good. We started hitting some shots in the second half and were able to get some stops, and you just saw us slowly get back into the game, then take the lead with about seven minutes left.”
– On the interior play of Tyree Robinson: “That’s his best game in a Lion uniform, and it was Rodney Brown’s best game in a Lion uniform, controlling the paint with four offensive rebounds. Those extra possessions were so huge for us. Both of those guys were undersized against Tarleton and battled their tails off. They end with 13 rebounds and 31 points between them in 40 minutes. That was crucial to us having success tonight.”
– On the effort of senior guard Reggie Reid: “Sometimes it doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but what he does late in the game when they’re trying to press us, you feel so comfortable that he’s either going to get fouled or make the right play to get an easy bucket for the team.”
– On the fan support in the Field House: “What a great crowd tonight. School’s not back in session. We’ll have students start trickling back into town this weekend with classes starting next week. The community and the university really came out, and they were loud, and they supported us. We need that little extra boost playing at home. When we get rolling at home offensively, it’s fun to watch.”
– On the break before playing nationally-ranked West Texas on the road: “It’s good for us. We’ll have good prep this week. Our mindset’s not going to change. We’re going to try and play for 40 minutes. They’ll be ready to go, and we’ll be ready to go. It should be another great Lone Star matchup.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions jumped out to a quick lead, scoring the first eight points of the game. Rooks and Budimir both hit threes early. TSU then scored six in a row to bring the game close again. Conrod also hit a three and midway through the half, the Lions held a 19-13 lead.
TSU then went on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game. After a three from Rooks tied the game at 22, TSU again went on a run, scoring eight in a row to build a significant lead. The Lions battled back to within four before a late TSU run took the Lions into halftime trailing 39-28.
The Lions shot 26 percent in the first half while TSU shot 47 percent from the field in half. Rooks and Conrod co-led the team with six points apiece in half. The Lions were perfect from the foul line, making all seven of their free throws.
Robinson scored two early buckets in the paint to cut the TSU lead to single digits. Robinson continued to spark the Lions with an alley-oop slam. He scored the first eight points of the half for the Lions. TSU matched the Lions production, however, keeping the lead around 10 points.
The Lions strung together some defensive stops and were able to cut the TSU lead to five points at the 13-minute mark. After going back and forth, the Lions cut the lead to three with 11 minutes to play on an and-one basket and free throw from Brown. The Lions then tied the game at 52 with 10 minutes to play on a three from Rooks.
The Lions began a run at the nine-minute mark, outscoring TSU 14-1 throughout three minutes. The Lion defense held TSU without a field goal for more than four minutes in the contest. Rooks and Robinson continued to propel the Lion offense as the Lions pushed their lead quickly to double figures with three minutes left in the game.
The Lion defense swarmed in the final 10 minutes of the game as TSU was held to just one field goal and nine total points in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Texas A&M Commerce Men’s Basketball Final Stats – Tarleton St. 64 at Tex. A&M-Commerce 76.
Texas A&M Commerce Mens Basketball – Tarleton State at Texas A&M-Commerce – January 10, 2019
Commerce, TX
Final Score: Tarleton St. 64 at Tex. A&M-Commerce 76
Final stats can be downloaded in PDF, HTML and XML formats using the URLs below:
- PDF – http://archive.statbroadcast.
com/235312.pdf - HTML – http://archive.statbroadcast.
com/235312.html - XML – http://archive.statbroadcast.
com/235312.xml
If you have any additional needs or questions, please direct them to Texas A&M Commerce.