SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team returns to action at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday against Texas A&M-Commerce in a Lone Star Conference game at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center.

The Rams (5-16, 2-11 LSC) are 5-5 at home this season, while the Lions (11-10, 4-7 LSC) come into the game on a three-game losing streak and are 3-6 away from home. A&M-Commerce won the first meeting between the two teams 75-58 on Dec. 8 in Commerce.

“Every game for us is crucial right now,” ASU head coach Fred Rike said. “We have to win out and need some things to happen for us to make the conference tournament right now. This is a big game for us that we have to win. They are a hard team for us to match up against because they are so deep. They are athletic and fast at every position. They can play a lot of different lineups on the court to create matchup problems throughout the game.”

Jovan Austin leads the Rams and is 13th in the LSC with 12.6 points per game and 73 assists and 33 steals in his freshman season, while Antonio Dye is averaging 11.1 points as the only ASU senior. Dye is leading the team with 5.1 rebounds per game and has also added 33 assists and 18 steals for the Rams. Chris Talkington and Dakota Rawls are each averaging 10.5 points per game with Bryan Hammond adding 9.8.

Rawls leads the Lone Star Conference by shooting 88 percent from the free-throw line (45 for 51), while Talkington tops the Rams with 37 3-pointers. Talkington is shooting 43 percent (37 for 85) on 3-pointers with Dye making 33 of his 86 3-pointer attempts (38 percent). The Rams are shooting 39 percent from the field this season and have created 74 more turnovers than they have committed, but have been outrebounded 794-652 this season.

The Rams lead the conference this season by shooting 71 percent from the free-throw line and a plus-3.65 turnover margin.

“I think depth is a problem when you look at the recent games and we have to put together a 40-minute game,” Rike said. “We need to continue being an aggressive and get to the foul line. We played different offensively the last time we played them so I'm interested to see how we can do against them when we're attacking.”

A&M-Commerce is averaging 73.4 points per game which ranks second in the conference this season and are shooting 43.9 points per game. The Lions are making 37.2 percent of their 3-pointers and are averaging 37.7 rebounds per game. Preston Whitely leads the Lions and is sixth in the LSC with 14.3 points per game and is shooting 47.4 percent from the field this year.

Stefon Carson is adding 10.6 points a game and leads the Lions with 7.1 rebounds a game. Andrew Davis leads the conference with 5.3 defensive rebounds a game and is averaging 8.8 points.

A&M-Commerce leads the conference with 15.6 assists per game and 26.6 defensive rebounds per game. ASU enters the game on a six-game losing streak following a road-loss at Tarleton State on Wednesday. The Lions last three losses game in back-to-back games to Tarleton State last week and a 60-57 defeat to Abilene Christian on Wednesday in Commerce.

Jeremy Bryant will broadcast the game on 1260 KKSA with a simulcast on AngeloSports.com. Video is also available for the game at AngeloSports.com. The Rams will host Cameron at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in their next game.