COMMERCE – Tarleton couldn't overcome a 28-9 run over the final 10 minutes of the first half by No. 18 Texas A&M-Commerce as the Texans fell to the Lions 82-70 at The Field House Tuesday night.
Tarleton (8-7, 4-3 LSC) came out swinging against the No. 18 Lions early on as a layup from
Deshawn Riddick and a three-ball by
Corinthian Ramsey on Tarleton's first two offensive possessions gave Tarleton its first lead of the night just a minute and half into the contest.
The teams traded blows over the opening 10 minutes and Tarleton built a five-point lead at 19-14 on a triple by
Josh Hawley at 11:04. The teams traded three balls with one from the Lions followed by one from
Sam Marshall to keep Tarleton up five at 22-17 with 9:49 left in the opening half.
Commerce scored on its next possession to start the deciding run of the night as the Texans went 2-8 shooting from the floor, 3-5 shooting at the free throw line, and committed five turnovers over the final 9:49 of the opening half while the Lions built a 45-31 lead at the break.
After the Lions scored the first basket of the new half,
Jaraan Lands started an 11-2 Tarleton run over the next four minutes, which was capped off with a three ball from
Corinthian Ramsey to bring the Texans within seven at 49-42 with 15:45 left in the game. Tarleton was able to pull as close as six on two different occasions, even as late as 2:32, but could get no closer as Commerce claimed the win.
As a team, Tarleton shot .469 from the floor, including .407 from downtown, and .565 from the free throw line while Commerce was .593 from the floor, .435 from downtown, and .727 at the line. Tarleton lost the battle of the boards with 26 rebounds compared to Commerce's 29.
Ramsey led all scorers with 25 points on 7-15 shooting, including 6-13 from downtown, and 5-6 at the charity stripe. Hawley (17) and Lands (12) combined for 29 points while cracking double figures. Riddick and
Jesse Hill each scored four points to round out the scoring from the starting five while
Preston Enloe (5) and
Sam Marshall (3) totaled eight points off the bench.
Tarleton will return to Stephenville Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. non-conference game against Arlington Baptist.
