Texas A&M-Commerce men fall in quarterfinals; end basketball season
Mar. 12—LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana — Texas A&M University-Commerce's run in the Southland Conference men's basketball tournament ended with a 72-51 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 seed Nicholls State of Louisiana.
The 19-13 Colonels advanced to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Legacy Center in Lake Charles.
The Lions finished the season with a 13-20 record after falling to Nicholls for the third time this season. Nicholls also won 87-84 in two overtimes in Commerce on Jan. 27 and 85-70 at Thibodaux on Feb. 24.
A&M-Commerce never led in Monday night's game, trailing 7-0 early after Rob Brown III hit a layup and a 3-pointer and Diante Smith hit a jump shot for the Colonels.
The Lions closed to within 11-8 after K.C. Ugwuakazi and Alonzo Dodd hit 3-pointers. And then Kwo Agwa dunked on a fast break to make it 11-10.
But Meki Collins dunked and Smith hit two more shots, with one a 3-pointer, as the Colonels stretched their lead to 21-10.
The Colonels carried a 34-21 lead into halftime and outscored the Lions 38-30 in the second half.
Brown, who was 5-of-6 from 3-point range, led the Colonels with 18 points. Smith finished with 14 points and Quin Strander added 11.
Dodd, who was 2-of-3 from 3-point range, led the Lions with 15 points. Kalen Williams scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
Also scoring for the Lions were James "Pop" Weathers (7), Agwa (6), Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (5), Tommie Lewis (3) and Ugwuakazi (3).
A&M-Commerce, the seventh seed, opened the tournament on Monday with a 69-64 win over six seed Northwestern State of Louisiana.
