The West Texas A&M Men’s basketball team went against Texas A&M-Commerce this past Saturday, Jan. 24 at the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas.

This game was such a battle between the Lions and the Buffs as there were eight ties with four lead changes. This back and forth match had David Chavlovich, Tez Damars, Miles Gatewood and Antjuan Ball scoring in the double figures for the Buffs. Chavlovich, who had the most points accumulated, scored 21 points along with two rebounds and two assists by the end of the game. Dumars had 14 total points, Gatewood 15 total points, and Ball 11 points for WT by the end of the match. WT’s loss gave the Buffs 11-8 (2-4, LSC) record fall while the win for the Lions gave them the 15-3 (4-1, LSC) record improvement.

In the first period, TAMUC player, Christian Macauley opened up the marker with a layup at 19:08. At about the 18th minute, WT’s own Antjuan Ball went for the dunk that made people from the stands rise to their feet. At minute 10:43, TAMUC player Anthony Adams scored a layup and a free throw giving TAMUC the lead 19-18. WT Miles Gatewood answered back with a three-point field goal bringing back WT in the lead 19-21. TAMUC jumper by Adams tied the game again 32-32 with less than five minutes remaining. Back to back dunks by Antjuan and Christian tied the game again to 34-34. With less than 30 seconds on the clock, TAMUC Eddie Leal scored a three-point field goal that ended the first period 39-43 with WT in the lead.

“WT played great in this first half,” Benjamin Mendez, a sophomore Mechanical Engineer major, said. “We had great communication with one another when passing the ball around and we were making Commerce work hard for the ball.”

The second period started quick for the Lions, as they were able to tie the game within the first minute and seconds later taking the lead. Leal had another three-pointer that gave TAMUC a lead of 55-47 at the 16th minute. WT kept close for the next minutes of the match. At the 11th minute, Gatewood scored a three-point field goal that tied the game 61-61. TAMUC player Macauley scored six more points that gave TAMUC a 67-61 lead with eight minutes left to play in the period. Carson took the layup that kept TAMUC in the lead 71-63 right before the media timeout. Bonner’s Layup for WT at the fifth minute made the score 73-65. The pace of the game became quicker and quicker as WT was coming back after a 10 point spread. With less than 30 seconds on the clock Chavlovich scored two free throws followed by free throws from Owens and Gatewood that made the score 76-75. With four seconds left on the clock, WT took the ball with the attempt to beat the Lions. With two seconds left, Gatewood took a three-point shot for the win, but the shot came up short and was subsequently rebounded by a TAMUC player.

“We were able to pressure the Lions team that caused us to comeback after a 10 point lead they had,” Head Coach Tom Brown said. “We fell by just a point and that point was the outcome of the game, a loss.”

“I knew TAMUC wasn’t going to go down without a big fight,” Seth Gillitzer, a sophomore AD/PR major, said. “I’m just glad the Buffs were able to compete with Commerce to the very end.”

WT will try and rebound from this crushing loss when they face Langston (9-5) on Tuesday, Jan. 27. The Langston Lions are lead by junior guard Curtis Jones, who is averaging about 12 points a game, and junior forward Andrew Rountree, with seven rebounds a game.