Men's Basketball Wins Thriller in Commerce

COMMERCE, Texas – Needing a win to stay in the hunt for a bye into the Lone Star Conference Championship, the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team took care of business on Saturday evening, defeating Texas A&M Commerce 72-68.
 
The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the game, seeing six ties and 13 lead changes – including three in the final 3:10 of the contest.
 
A Ryan Leonard (Kerry, Ireland) layup with 4:02 left tied the contest for the final time at 62-62. After a media timeout, the Lions' Demarcus Demonia drilled a pullup to give them a 64-62 edge. Senior Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) hit his lone three-pointer of the game for the Rattlers (12-11, 9-5 Lone Star Conference) first lead since the 9:06 mark. Twenty seconds later TAMC (16-7, 8-6 Lone Star) took the lead back but Leonard drove to the basket again to make the score 67-66. With 1:19 on the clock, sophomore Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) was fouled and he made both free throws. Demonia answered with a pair at the charity stripe with 37 ticks remaining to pull within one, 69-68. In the final 33 seconds, the Rattlers made 3-of-4 from the free throw line for the 72-68 final.
 
Leonard ended the game with 15 points with 13 coming in the second half, while senior guard Kobe Magee (San Antonio) led the team with 17 after draining 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. Caron was also in double figures, scoring 11. The trio also tied for team-high honors with three assists each, while Leonard had three steals and Caron blocked three shots.
 
As he's done for the past several games, junior Emmanuel Ewuzie came off the bench to grab a bunch of rebounds, tying for the team lead with seven, alongside Leonard.
 
The big difference in the game was at the free throw line, as the Rattlers sank 77.3 percent of their attempts (17-for-22), while the Lions hit at only a 55 percent clip (11-for-20). 
 
Demonia led the game with a double-double, scoring 18 and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Augustine Ene added 17 points and Jairus Roberson chipped in 12. 
 
The Rattlers are done with conference play and must await the results of the final week of play to determine seeding for the Lone Star Championship. St. Mary's hosts St. Edward's on Thursday in the team's final regular season contest, but it is a non-conference game. The teams will tip at approximately 7:30 p.m. and Senior Night will be celebrated before the game.