Texans, Lions fight for outright lead in rugged LSC race

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Tarleton State and Josh Hawley host Texas A&M-Commerce Tuesday with first place in the Lone Star Conference on the line. || Photo courtesy NATE BURAL/Tarleton Athletic Communications

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (January 8, 2017) — An upset loss has left Tarleton State as a co-leader instead of topping the Lone Star Conference standings outright, but the Texans have the opportunity to right that wrong back home at Wisdom Gym Tuesday evening.

Tarleton welcomes red-hot Texas A&M-Commerce to Stephenville at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, following a 5:30 p.m. women’s game (see women’s preview Tuesday on The Flash).

A&M-Commerce (12-2, 5-1) has won three straight including a road victory Thursday at Texas A&M-Kingsville, where the No. 9 Texans (13-2, 5-1) were upset on Saturday, and a bigger one in overtime Saturday at Angelo State.

While Midwestern and Angelo State have been the biggest linchpins among Tarleton’s LSC rivals in recent seasons, the Texans and Lions are no strangers in big games, either.

In addition to their many regular season meetings, Tarleton earned its first regional championship and Elite Eight berth by upsetting A&M-Commerce in the South Central final in 2005 and came back behind a vintage Corin Henry performance in the quarterfinals of the LSC Championship in 2010. They have met in each of the last three LSC tournaments, Tarleton winning in 2014 and 2016 and the Lions knocking off the Texans in between in 2015, when they won their first tourney title since 2005.


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In the 29-year Lonn Reisman era at Tarleton, the Texans are 30-18 against the Lions with wins in 11 of 14 dating back to 2011. But that didn’t stop A&M-Commerce from pulling off an upset in Stephenville last year, taking the lead in the final seconds of a 67-65 nail biter.

“We’ve always had very competitive games with Commerce, and a lot of that is because (head coach Sam Walker) has always been able to recruit talented players and get them to buy into his system and become a good basketball team,” said Reisman. “This year is no different, they are very good, very dangerous.”

Indeed. The Lions figured to run into an angry and motivated Angelo State team Saturday following ASU’s ugly loss to Tarleton just two days prior, but the Lions led almost the entire way in the 97-89 overtime win, in which Trey Seymore poured in 25 points and Malik Albert added 23. Their win at A&M-Kingsville two days prior was just as tight at 74-72. Albert was 10-15 from the foul line on his way to 20 points and Seymore had 17 in that affair.

All three games during current win streak have been close for the battle-tested Lions, who returned from Christmas break with a 78-76 win at Southern Arkansas. They have not played at home in Commerce since a December 3 win over Midwestern State, since winning at Eastern and Western New Mexico and falling at East Central in Ada, Oklahoma in their final game before Christmas.

Tarleton and A&M-Commerce have eight common opponents. The Lions are 7-1 in those games, the Texans 6-2.

“We saw them at our Thanksgiving Classic. They have outstanding guards who can really shoot from the perimeter and they have a good big man inside,” Reisman said. “You put their talent with a coach like Sam Walker, and you see the product – a great basketball team that is right up there with the top teams in our conference. I think they are one of the teams you’ll see right there all season with a chance to win this league.”

Albert averages 19.4 points and Seymore scores 17.1. They are both transfers from respected Division I mid-majors, Albert from Creighton and Seymore from Coppin State. They have a strong supporting cast with five others averaging north of seven points.

The Lions have been especially strong on the offensive end of the court, scoring 87.9 points and outscoring opponents by 11.2. Taking care of the ball has been their biggest strength with just 12.2 turnovers per game. They are a +6.7 in that category, allowing them to outscore opponents by a margin of 11.4 in points off turnovers. Their quick guards lead the way to an average of 10.2 steals per game, five more than their opponents.

“They take care of the basketball, they rebound the basketball and they can really score the basketball,” Reisman said. “And they are battle tested. They have played eight times away from home already and won seven of them. We have to bring our best game. That’s the case every time you take the court in this league, and it’s no different against A&M-Commerce.”

Until Saturday’s upset, the Texans were the hottest team in the league with 10 straight wins including the 92-60 thrashing of No. 5 Angelo State on the Rams’ home court. The Texans score 80.6 points and outscore opponents by 16.9 and are one of the country’s top rebounders with a +7.7 margin per game. Tarleton is +3.2 in turnover differential and averages 3.6 steals more than its opponents.

Ridell Camidge scored 23 at A&M-Kingsville and averages 16.0. Romond Jenkins scores 12.7 and collects 11.1 boards, Chantz Chambers scores 11.3 and Deshawn Riddick averages 10.8. Redshirt freshmen Josh Hawley and Anthony Davis have flipped roles recently, with Hawley in the starting lineup and Davis coming off the bench. Davis plays 23.7 minutes and scores 9.5, while Hawley plays 19.2 minutes and scores 8.9.


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