COMMERCE – The Angelo State men's basketball team fell behind by 18 at halftime and could never recover in a 99-78 Lone Star Conference loss to Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday at The Field House.

ASU (16-7, 6-5 LSC) were outscored 33-14 at the free-throw line in the game and saw the Lions (15-8, 4-7 LSC) jump out the big halftime advantage with the assistance of six 3-pointers and 52.7 percent shooting from the field. The 99 points are the most the Rams have allowed this season and the loss evens the regular-season series between the two teams after ASU earned a 77-75 win on Jan. 12 at the Junell Center.

"We scored 78 points on 48 percent shooting," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "That is enough on the offensive end to win the game. Our problem today was defense. Specifically, an inability to defend without fouling. We made the same number of baskets as Commerce, but got beat by 21 because they doubled us on free throws. Give Commerce credit. They are very good when in attack mode on offense."

Tommy Woolridge led the Rams with 20 points after hitting three 3-pointers, while Kenny Williams added 17 points and eight rebounds. Williams also had two blocked shots to take his season total to 21 and had two assists. Bryan Hammond had a season-high nine assists for the Rams and added 16 points with Chris Talkington scoring 13.

Angelo State finished the game shooting 47.5 percent from the field and was 6 of 15 on 3-pointers. Talkington had two 3-pointers and Chantz Chambers came off the bench to hit a trey late in the game. The game was tied at nine on a Woolridge 3-pointer and at 11 on a Williams jumper with 13:08 to play in the first half, and the Rams took a 14-11 lead a minute later on another 3-pointer from Woolridge. The Lions regained the lead at 17-16 on a pair of free throws from Christian Macauley 10 minutes into the game and wouldn't relinquish the lead the remainder of the game.

ASU, which was down 55-37 at halftime, was outscored 36-28 in the paint and saw five Lions reach double-figure scoring. Devondrick Walker led A&M-Commerce with 22 points, five assists and six rebounds, while Christian Macauley added 19 points and nine rebounds. They were joined in double figures by Tyrie Wooten (15), De'Andre Carson (14) and LaDon Carnegie (12). Daniel Ehambe added nine points and three rebounds.

The Rams have now lost back-to-back conference games for the first time and for only the second time all season. ASU, which is 6-5 away from San Angelo this season, returns to action at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday against Midwestern State at the D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls.