COMMERCE – The No. 15-ranked Angelo State Rams fell for the second time in a row for the first time this season after taking a 71-68 Lone Star Conference loss to Texas A&M-Commerce on Wednesday at The Field House.

Tied at 68-68, Christian Macauley took a pass from LaDon Carnegie and had the game-winning dunk which was followed by a free throw with two seconds remaining in the game. A half-court attempt from Raijon Kelly fell short for the Rams (23-4, 10-3 LSC) who had a seven-point lead with seven minutes remaining. Kelly had tied the game at 68 with a 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining off an assist from Demario Mayfield. The Lions (21-6, 9-4 LSC) evened the season-series with the Rams after ASU had taken a 79-63 win on Jan. 28 over Commerce at the Junell Center.

Chris Jones led the Rams with 19 points on a 7-for-14 shooting performance and added two assists and two steals, while Marsell Holden hit four 3-pointers and went for 16 points. Raijon Kelly hit three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points and Omari Gudul had 11 points and led the Rams with nine rebounds. Demario Mayfield was held to four points, but had eight rebounds and six assists.

The Rams, who were coming off an 81-78 loss at Cameron, finished the game shooting 50 percent (25 of 52), including going 7-for-18 on 3-pointers. ASU did not shoot a free throw in the first half but went 9-for-15 from the line in the second half. The Lions, who owned a 38-28 rebounding advantage, shot 43.6 percent from the field and hit five 3-pointers to go along with shooting 18-for-24 (75 percent) from the free-throw line.

Darrell Williams recorded his 18th double-double of the season with 20 points and 17 rebounds, while Carnegie had 19 points and six assists. Carnegie led the Lions with three 3-pointers and Macauley added 13 points, including the three game-winning points in the final seconds.

The Rams trailed 33-31 at halftime despite shooting 51.9 percent from the field and limiting the Lions to 44.4 percent. Each team had eight turnovers and three 3-pointers after the first 20 minutes, but the difference proved to be at the free-throw line. While the Lions were 6-for-10 from the free-throw line in the first half, ASU did not shot a single free throw. Jones led the Rams with 10 points and had two assists in the first half, while Omari Gudul had eight points and six rebounds. The Rams went 3-for-8 from beyond the arc with Holden going 2-for-4 and Kelly hitting a fall-away 3-pointer for his only points of the first half.

ASU led by as many as seven points in the first half with the Lions owning a six-point advantage with 4:03 remaining before halftime after Carnegie hit a layup. ASU cut that lead to two jumpers from Jones along with shots from Gudul and Taylor. The Rams owned their seven-point lead at the 12:46 mark when Holden hit a 3-pointer that followed Kelly's 3-pointer.

Angelo State is now 7-4 away from San Angelo this season and is now one game behind Tarleton State in the conference standings going into the final game of the regular season. ASU will finish the regular season with a home game at 6 p.m. on Saturday against Texas A&M-Kingsville at the Junell Center, while the Texans will host A&M-Commerce at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
The Rams remained fourth in the NCAA Division II South Central regional rankings for the second week in a row. Tarleton State is ranked first in the region followed by No. 2 Metro State and No. 3 Colorado School of Mines.