The final score suggests the No. 1 seed in the LSC Championship had a convincing win over eighth-seeded A&M-Commerce Wednesday night.
But it took quite a turnaround in the second half as the Mustangs were sleepwalking through the first two-thirds of the games and trailed the Lions by as much as seven in the second half before MSU finally got hot from the field, especially beyond the 3-point arc.
The Mustangs hit five 3-pointers in a 3:28-minute span to help MSU pull away for a hard-fought 64-52 win in the last of four quarterfinal games Wednesday at the Allen Event Center. The win improved the Mustangs to 24-3 and advances them to Friday’s semifinal round to face fifth-seeded Cameron.
Junior guard JaMichael Rivers hit three of the big 3-pointers in that run, with senior guard Michael Loyd, an ALL-LSC first team selection, connecting on the other two 3’s. Loyd scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Rivers also had 15 points, while Thomas Colbert had 11 rebounds and David Terrell had eight points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Keonte Logan, the LSC Defensive Player of the Year, only had three points but had four steals.
For the Lions, senior guard Brad Hambrick had 18 points, playing 40 minutes for the sixth straight game. Quince Jackson had 12 points and Preston Whitely scored 10. The Lions, who won the last three regular-season games to qualify for the tournament, finish the season 10-17. It’s the second straight season the Lions lost in the LSC Championships to MSU.
The Mustangs were 1-of-11 from 3-point land in the first half, but hit 6-of-15 in the final 20 minutes. Overall, Midwestern shot 53.6 percent from the floor in the second half, improving from a 7-of-30 shooting in the first frame.
MSU Notes
-With the win Midwestern State is now 19-6 in the Lone Star Conference Tournament all-time. The last four times that they have entered the tournament as the top seed since 2000 they won the championship.
-Midwestern State’s 64-52 defeat of Texas A&M-Commerce marked their third victory against the Lions in the season. They previously defeated them 65-53 on the road on November 30 and 69-50 at home on January 25. The Mustangs are 4-0 all-time against the Lions in the postseason and lead the all-time series 46-30.
-Senior guard Keonte’ Logan, the Co-Defensive Player of the Year, tied a MSU single-game record in Lone Star Conference Tournament play with four steals. Jerome Jackson (1999) and Marquette Wilkins (2001, 2004) share the record with him. Logan needs four more steals to break the school’s single-tournament record.
-The Mustangs have played on February 29 five times previously in school history and are now 4-2 on leap day.
-Senior forward Thomas Colbert led the team with 11 rebounds, the sixth time this season he’s done so. In his career he’s led the team in rebounding 11 times.
-The Mustangs outrebounded the Lions 43-41. They are now 22-0 on the year when winning the battle of the boards.
-The Mustangs three losses this year came when they were trailing at the half. The Lions led them 26-19 after the first, but the Mustangs outscored them 45-26 in the second period to push their record to 6-3 when trailing after 20 minutes.
-Senior guard Michael Loyd finished the game with a team-high 16 points. He led the team on the year with 13 points a contest.
-The Mustangs wrapped up the month of February with a record of 7-1.
A&M-C notes
The Lions’ 64-52 loss to Midwestern State in the LSC quarterfinals snapped a 3 game TAMU-C win streak. Prior to tonight’s defeat, the last Lion loss was a 70-60 defeat to West Texas A&M on Feb. 15.
Tonight marked the Lions’ 33rd LSC tournament appearance, the most of any LSC institution. This was also TAMU-C’s seventh-consecutive tournament appearance and eighth in the last nine years. The Lions are now 24-30, overall, in the tournament.
The Lions’ 25.5 field goal percentage (14-55) was their lowest of the season and just the second time that they have hit fewer than 30 percent from the field. TAMU-C hit just 27.5 percent (11-40) at Tarleton State on Jan. 21.
Tonight marked senior Brad Hambrick’s 20th double-figure scoring outing of the season. He finished the night with 18 points.
Redshirt freshman Quince Jackson registered his second double-figure scoring outing, with 12 points. Interestingly, his only other double-digit outing this season came in the Lions’ most recent outing, the season finale against Angelo State when Jackson also tallied 12 points.
MSU quotes
Head coach Nelson Haggerty
“They came out in the zone and we didn’t handle it very well to start. We shot some quick shots early and passed up on good ones. We were stagnant against the zone, but did good things in the second half on moving the ball around.”
“Our defense carried us. It has all year. We wouldn’t have been in the game if it wasn’t for our defense.”
“When these guys started making shots, started looking for each other, the rest followed. They stayed with our stuff and the forwards were great chasing the ball down.”
“These guys are too good to be missing shots throughout the basketball game. We like to guard tough and when we are rebounding the ball, I feel good about what we do offensively.”
“You don’t feel good about playing anybody in our league. One through 10 in the conference is a tough match-up. Commerce has had some adversity, but they fought through it. After awhile we found some things out and found ways to make plays.”
“Our guys did a great job on their forwards. Their guards only shot 11 three’s and they’re one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league. It was a tough order, but I really thought we rebounded the ball very well.”
“I have to do a better job of getting these guys focused on the game. When you’re playing in a game of this magnitude, you have to be smart about how you react to situations.”
JaMichael Rivers
“I felt like I caught a rhythm, and took the right shots. The ones I didn’t take, I got them to the right guys.”
“I got my hand split, and they were putting a band aid on. But I felt like it was going to change my shot though.”
Michael Loyd
“Our philosophy is pushing the ball while their setting up. We didn’t want them to get set up.”
“In the second half, we put pressure on their defense and made the right play.”
A&M-C Quotes
Head Coach Sam Walker
“It was a hard fought game, one that I thought played in our favor. They like to play in the 80’s, we needed to play in the 60’s.”
“When they hit some threes, we didn’t answer on the other end.”
“Our zone works when our guys make it work, when it doesn’t, they don’t make it work. They did a phenomenal job making it work tonight on defense.”
“At the end, you have to win three games, with only one at home, and have no wins on the road. They stayed focused until the last buzzer of this game.”
“They have been resilient and focused through the whole season. I am very proud of what this team has accomplished as people, more than just as basketball players.”
Desmond King
“It was a battle I had to win for us to be successful. I didn’t win it for my team.”
“I am proud of what we did, climbing from the bottom of the totem pole to get here. I am proud of Texas A&M-Commerce.”
“I think it was just a bad game on my part. I tried to do my best to make this University successful. It just happens.”
Brad Hambrick
“We knew they would make a run and we didn’t handle adversity. We couldn’t score enough points and struggled in the second half.”
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