As part of the Lone Star Conference Championship, the men's basketball teams spent time giving back to the Bartlesville community on Friday morning.  The community engagement activity allowed the student-athletes to interact with the students at local elementary schools.

• Click here to see photos of Tarleton State's visit to Dewey Elementary School

A&M-Commerce men visit with students in Bartlesville

Courtesy of Brent Lyday

Members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team and coaching staff visited physical education students at Madison Middle School on Friday morning as a part of the Lone Star Conference's community activities in Bartlesville, Okla.

      Members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team and coaching staff visited with students at Madison Middle School on Friday morning as a part of the Lone Star Conference's community activities in Bartlesville, Okla.

      While the students began packing the stands, many noticed the Lions waiting on the sidelines and chants of "dunk it!" began to flourish. A&M-Commerce guard Dallas Hunter obliged and jammed home a dunk to kick off the event.

      After Lions head coach Sam Walker found volunteers for a free throw shootout to get the energy going, he introduced the team and began to speak about the importance of academics.

      Seniors DeUndrae Spraggins, Rashad Brown, Dominique Taylor and Cedric Griffin stepped forward and Walker pointed out that each would be graduating in the upcoming months.

      "All these guys come this May or summer will have a college degree," said Walker. "It's what you do in the classroom."

      The team then fielded various questions from which player is the best dunker to who can sing the best, but the topic was always brought back to the importance of academics and where it can take you in life.

      "That is what school is all about...training to be a professional," said Walker.

      The other seven men's basketball teams participating in the LSC Tournament also visited schools from around the area to "interact with the children and spread a message of good sportsmanship, talk about the importance of teamwork and to answer questions about college basketball," according to the league.

      Despite falling in the first round of the tourney Thursday night, interacting with students and helping to brighten their day made the Lions' loss a bit easier.

      "Visiting with the kids today was a much-needed blessing," said Spraggins. "I'm disappointed about the game last night, but being able to be a positive influence on the lives of today's youth means more to me than coming up short on the scoreboard."

      Before wrapping up the event, Ronnie Morgan answered the question about who can sing the best as he sang, "I Believe I Can Fly," before leaving with a standing ovation.

      "I just like seeing all the kids smile," said Morgan. "Anytime you can touch someone's life that's younger than you...it's always special."