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HOUSTON --- Houston Christian University dropped the final home game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Texas A&M-Commerce 98-85 in Sharp Gymnasium. The visiting Lions broke away from a tie-game with eight minutes to go in the first half and never looked back in claiming the road victory.
 
HCU took an early 13-6 lead after back-to-back three-pointers from Marcus Greene and Dominic Capriotti with 14:50 to play in the opening twenty minutes. The Lions shot right back, and three-point play from Kalen Williams gave Commerce it's first lead of the game, 14-13 just two minutes later.
 
The two teams would trade buckets for the next six minutes, but consecutive scores from Williams pushed TAMUC to a five-point lead with 5:14 to go. The lead would grow to 13 after a dunk from Tommy Lewis, and the Lions would take a 50-40 edge into the intermission.
 
Out of the break, the Huskies would make a push. Back to back layups by Bonke Maring and Michael Imariagbe cut the lead to six, and a moment later, Capriotti connected from distance to cut that margin in half. Jay Alvarez finished off the 13-4 run to begin the half with a layup in the paint on an assist from Greene, and HCU trailed by just one, 54-53 as the first media timeout hit.
 
VJ Reeves three pointer capped a 12-2 burst that pushed the lead back to double-figures, but moments later, the lead was cut in half once again on a pair of charity shots by Imariagbe at the 11:33 mark. That however, would be the closest the Huskies would get the rest of the way as Commerce began to slowly pull away.
 
HCU would score just seven points over the next four minutes, and in the meantime the Lions pushed their advantage back to 12. Tommie Lewis connected on a triple to give the visitors an 81-69 lead with 7:26 to go and TAMUC would cruise to the finish line from there.
 
The Huskies shot 47% from the floor and 33% from the arc on the night, but the visitors hit at a 52% clip and outrebounded their hosts by four. Commerce helped themselves by turning it over just five times on the afternoon.
 
Bonke Maring scored 23 points to lead four in double-figures for the Huskies. The senior also chipped in seven boards, three assists and two steals in his final appearance in Sharp Gym.
 
Jay Alvarez posted 21 points and six boards, while Michael Imariagbe had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his 11^th double-double of the campaign. Dominic Capriotti added 11 points while Marcus Greene and Pierce Bazil led the Huskies with six and five assists, respectively.
 
Commerce was led by the 35-point outburst of Kalen Williams, who went 14-26 from the floor while also dishing out six assists. Tommie Lewis added 23 points while Alonzo Dodd and Khaliq Abdul-Mateen chipped in 11 and 10. KC Ugwauakazi had eight points, seven rebounds and five blocks for the Lions, now 11-18 overall and 5-11 in the Southland.
 
HCU falls to 6-21 overall and 4-12 in the Southland. The Huskies will wrap up the regular season with a pair of road games next week, traveling Lake Charles on Monday night to face regular season champion McNeese before taking on Lamar in Beaumont on Wednesday evening.
 
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