ALLEN – Texas A&M-Commerce claimed the 2015 Lone Star Conference Basketball Championship with a 68-61 win over No. 17 Angelo State on Saturday in the finals of the tournament at the Allen Events Center.

The Rams (26-5) will now wait until 9:30 p.m. on Sunday for the NCAA Division II selection show to see where and who they'll play next week at the South Central Championship. ASU, which is ranked fourth in the region, will need an at-large bid for the tournament while the Lions (24-7) have earned the LSC automatic bid with their fifth tournament championship and first since 2005. The Lions went through West Texas A&M, top-seeded Tarleton State and the Rams to earn the championship. ASU was looking to win its first tournament title since 1989, but instead is now 3-4 all-time in the tournament's final round.

"I thought it was a tale of two halves where we played well defensively to hold them to 20 points and under 30 percent shooting," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "That gave us a chance to stay in and win the game, but our offense was very inconsistent. The script flipped in the second half with us playing better on offense by shooting over 50 percent with some good shots, but our defense failed us and we couldn't get stops."

Marsell Holden led the Rams with 22 points after going 6-for-12 on 3-pointers, while Demario Mayfield had 10 points and six rebounds. Chris Jones led the Rams with eight assists and scored six points, while Thomas Brandsma and Bilal Richardson had six points each. Jones and Mayfield were both named to the LSC Championships All-Tournament team after leading the Rams to the finals for the first time since 2001.

Angelo State finished the game shooting 42.6 percent (23 of 54), including going 7-for-21 on 3-pointers. The Rams were held to 18 points in the first half after shooting 7-for-25 (28.0 percent) and going 1 of 8 (12.5 percent) on 3-pointers. ASU's halftime score was its lowest of the season which was previously a 20-point halftime score at Tarleton State. Mayfield led the Rams with five points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes, while Holden hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two at the end of the half.  

"I wouldn't say we felt good, but we felt fortunate to be in the game at halftime," Beard said. "We just couldn't get into a rhythm defensively in the second half. They are very difficult to guard and I thought Anthony Adams played great at the point guard position for them. We had some minutes there with Williams in foul trouble which is what we wanted to do, but Adams played great for them."

A 9-0 run to start the second half gave the Angelo State Rams a seven-point lead with Holden hitting a 3-pointer just 16 seconds into the half and then hitting a layup following a Mayfield jumper.

"We wanted to come out with some energy and make a run there," Holden said. "Once we get our offense going our defense gets going. They had some good possessions too."

ASU led 27-20 at the 17:49 mark of the second half, but the Lions charged back with a run of their own which included a Ladon Carnegie 3-pointer that tied the game at 28 and was extended with Eddie Leal and Darrell Williams hitting shots and giving the Lions a 36-30 lead with 14:04 to play.

The wave of runs continued with the Rams going on a 7-0 run which included jumpers by Tommy Woolridge, Bilal Richardson and another 3-pointer by Holden. ASU led 39-36 after Richardson's jumper with 11:30 remaining, but the Lions regained the lead at 39-38 on an Anthony Adams layup with 11:22 and wouldn't trail again. ASU was able to cut the deficit to four after Holden hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining, but that was as close as the game over the final nine minutes.

Adams led the Lions with 18 points and four assists, while Darrell Williams recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Williams was named the tournament's MVP. The Lions finished the game shooting 43.4 percent.