COMMERCE, Texas — Freshman Yuto Yamanouchi scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds (his fourth career double-double), but Lamar University struggled Saturday afternoon dropping an 81-66 decision at The Field House.
The Cardinals finished the game knocking down 20-of-50 (.400) attempts, but just a 3-of-14 (.214) effort on threes. Big Red was 16-of-19 (.842) free throw attempts.
Yamanouchi was joined in double figures by freshman Nate Calmese. The Arizona native scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
Commerce had three players in double figures for an offense that was 28-of-58 (.464) from the field and knocked down 13 three-pointers. Commerce’s ability to convert the three allowed them to overcome a 41-29 deficit on the boards.
The Lions also took advantage of LU’s 15 turnovers. A&M-Commerce finished the game with a 17-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Cardinals jumped out of the gate quickly knocking down six of their first seven attempts to build a 9-0 lead. While Big Red was setting the nets on fire at one end, the Lions were ice cold starting the game 0-for-6 and 2-for-12.
A&M-Commerce finally got on the scoreboard at the 15:38 mark with two Demarcus Demonia free throws. The Lions then got the ball back and knocked down their first field goal (Jerome Brewer) moments later to trim the lead down to five.
The Commerce basket seemed to wake the sleeping Lion as the home team began to heat up, while at the same time Big Red started to cool off. After a 2-for-12 start, Commerce then knocked down four of its next seven attempts, while LU was mired in a 2-for-13 slump.
During that time, the Lions managed to battle back and tie the game at 21. Commerce stayed on the attack rattling off a 10-1 run and took an 11-point lead into the locker room.
The Cardinals finished the half 10-of-27 (.370) from the field, and just 1-of-7 (.143) from three-point range. LU had the advantage on the glass, 23-15, in the opening half of action.
Commerce closed the half knocking down, 13 of their final 18 attempts and finished the half 15-of-30 (. 500) from the floor, including a 5-of-13 (.385) effort on three-pointers.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Lions knocked down eight of their first 15 attempts, while the Cardinals struggled to a 3-of-12 start. A&M-Commerce managed to push their advantage to 22, 60-38.
The Cardinals trimmed the lead down to 17 and had a Yamanouchi three-pointer go down in the cylinder and then pop back out which would have cut the deficit down to just 14 points.
There was still eight minutes remaining, but the Lions got the rebound and LU never got that close again until the final moments of the game.
The Cardinals return to action Thursday when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The game against the Islanders will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Montagne Center and will kick off a three-game homestand for the Cardinals.
