STEPHENVILLE – The No. 7 Tarleton State Texans are the champions of the Lone Star Conference.
 
Led by a 26-point performance by Mo Lee on senior night, Tarleton State earned an outright Lone Star Conference championship Sunday night in front of a packed house in Wisdom Gym with a 68-48 rout of Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
"We've won championships before here and it's a testament to the coaches and players as well as our fans, our university and this community," said head coach Lonn Reisman. "This is so rewarding this year because there are so many great teams in this league. It's unbelievable the talent level in this league this year and to win this championship is so hard."
 
The teams traded blows back and forth over the opening 10 minutes as the lead changed five times and was tied three times over the first quarter of the contest.
 
With Tarleton clinging to a one-point lead at 13-12, however, Lee dropped a pocket pass through a crowded lane to find his fellow senior, Damion Clemons, for a one-handed slam to ignite the crowd and start a 10-1 Texan run to extend the lead to double figures at 23-13 with 7:11 left in the opening half.
 
Commerce clawed back to pull within six over the next two minutes before three free throws and a 3-ball from Malcolm Hamilton sparked a 9-2 surge over the rest of the first half to send the Texans into halftime with a 32-19 lead.
 
Out of the break, senior Davene Carter started the fresh half with an alley-oop slam from Michael Hardge. The Texans maintained between a 13 and 18-point lead over the next 13 minutes down to the 6:37 mark with a 55-38 lead.
 
Tarleton got six straight points on a Hardge layup and four straight free throws – two from a technical foul – to extend the lead to 21. The Texans cruised over the final six minutes, never leading by less than 20 again.
 
Lee topped 20 points for the seventh time in the last 12 games with his 26-point performance while Hamilton poured in 13 off the bench. Hardge scored eight while Carter and Clemons each tallied six points while Nosa Ebomwonyi (4), EJ Reed (3) and Jakob Damstra (2) rounded out the scoring.
 
Ebomwonyi also drew the defensive assignment of Commerce's LaDon Carnegie, who entered the game among the top-10 in scoring in the Lone Star Conference. Ebomwonyi, a true freshman, held the senior guard to no points on 0-7 shooting, including an 0-6 effort from beyond the arc.
 
As a team, Tarleton held Commerce to 31 percent from the floor, including 12 percent from downtown, while boasting a 40 percent shooting effort, including 44 percent from 3-point land.
 
With the win, Tarleton State secured the No. 1 seed in the LSC Championship Tournament in Allen next week and will open play against Eastern New Mexico at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Allen Event Center.