#WTDarkHorse – Vote for Antjuan Ball in the Dark Horse Dunker Competition every day. Second round voting ends Wednesday, Feb. 25 at NOON! VOTE HERE!
 
Box Score
 
Season Statistics
 
COMMERCE, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's basketball team dropped a tough contest late to the Lions of Texas A&M-Commerce on the road Saturday evening, 73-69. After leading by as many as 12 in the second half, the Buffs allowed a late run, taking the loss and falling to 16-11 overall and 6-7 in Lone Star Conference play. The Lions now improve to 20-6 (8-4, LSC) with the win inside A&M-Commerce Fieldhouse.
 
With the result tonight, along with others across the league, the Buffs and Lions will likely be meeting again soon, as they sit at fifth and fourth seeds, respectively, in the LSC standings. That would be the matchup in the first round of the LSC Tournament in Allen, Texas which will begin on Wednesday, March 4.
 
The Buffs would finish shooting 24-for-57 (.421) from the field, just below the 26-for-55 (.473) mark for the Lions. As a team, WT would also go 11-for-31 (.355) from beyond the arc while holding TAMUC to just three buckets from deep off of 13 attempts. Rebounding would once again be the weak point for the Buffs on Saturday as they were nearly doubled up on the glass, 40-23.
 
One positive stat on the box score of note was only five turnovers for the Buffs, their lowest as a team on the season thus far. WT would force 10 from the Lions and scored 16 points off them.
 
Freshman David Chavlovich led the way individually in the Buffs' final road game of the regular season. He finished with 27 points, leading all scorers. Chavlovich would go 10-for-22 from the field and 6-for-14 from the perimeter. He would add five rebounds, three assists and two steals on the night.
 
The Buffs jumped out to an early 5-2 lead with a 3-pointer by Chavlovich just 1:20 into the game. That lead would stand through the first 13 minutes of the game. WT attempted to grow that lead by the under-twelve media timeout but TAMUC would pull back within one with an Everrett Pleasant jumper, making the score 15-14 for the Buffs with 11:53 remaining.
 
Freshman Carl White and LSC Offensive Player of the Week senior Miles Gatewood then stretched that lead to seven, knocking down consecutive triples for WT, giving the Buffs a 21-14 advantage.
 
The Lions then made a run themselves, scoring the next 10 points and taking their first lead of the game at 24-21 with 5:09 left to play in the frame. Two of those buckets came off the hands of Craig Fofang. Senior Antjuan Ball brought the Buffs back on the next possession; however, making the score tied again at 24 heading into the final media timeout of the half with 3:43 remaining.
 
After trading buckets over the final minutes, the home team would grab the lead again at 30-29 before Chavlovich knocked down another from long range to retake the 32-30 lead with 45 seconds remaining. That score would stand at the half.
 
Ball began the second half doing what he does best, throwing down a vicious dunk to make the score 34-30 in favor of WT. But the Lions would respond quickly with an 8-2 run, ending with a Darrell Williams layup at 16:25.
 
Then heading into the first media timeout of the half, WT would storm to an 8-0 run, powered by back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman Tommy Gove and Chavlovich. That would make the score 44-40 for the Buffs giving them the lead back again with 14:43 on the clock.
 
After allowing another layup by Pleasant, WT would roll to another 11-0 run, capping off together a 21-4 run overall, as Chavlovich continued to strike from long range as he hit his sixth 3-pointer with 10 minutes to go, grabbing his 22^nd point of the night. WT would hold on to a double-digit lead for the next few minutes and even stretched it to a 12-point advantage, going up 59-47 with about 9:20 on the clock.
 
The Lions would quickly get themselves back in the contest going on a 10-1 run making the WT lead just 65-62 with under four minutes to go. Chavlovich would then make one of two from the charity stripe to give the Buffs a four-point advantage at the final media timeout with just under four minutes to play.
 
After the whistle, Anthony Adams would drain a triple to extend the Lions' run to 15-2, retaking the lead for the home team at 67-66 with 2:49 to play. With just under a minute to play, the Lions would find themselves up 70-69 and took a trip to the free-throw line and made the advantage three. Chavlovich would have a final look for the Buffs with 12 seconds left as he sent another attempt from long range but this one would not fall. The Buffs would be forced to foul, leading to the final score of 73-69.
 
Gatewood would also finish the night in double-figures, adding 12 points. Bonner scored nine coming off the bench, making all three field goals in 17 minutes on the court.
 
With the loss, the Lions sweep the season series with the Buffs and have now won four-straight overall. WT still holds the all-time advantage in the series, 47-29.
 
WT will return to action a week from today, on Saturday, Feb. 28, as it hosts LSC rival Eastern New Mexico in the Buffs' regular season finale. Tipoff for the Buffs and Greyhounds is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the First United Bank Center (FUBC) in Canyon, Texas. Live stats and a free video webstream will be available for the game courtesy of West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations. As always, the game can be heard by tuning into 98.7 Jack FM while fans can also catch live updates by following @wtathletics on Twitter. WT leads the all-time series against ENMU, 64-18, and won the first meeting this season, a 76-73 thriller in Portales on Jan. 31
 
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#WTDARKHORSE ANTJUAN BALL: Senior Antjuan Ball has been selected as one of 16 finalists nationally who is competing in the State Farm Dark Horse Dunker Competition, and has made it through to the second round as one of the final eight. Second round voting began Wednesday, Feb. 18, and will go till Wednesday, Feb. 25, in a bracket-style format, where the winner each week advances on until a final fan favorite is selected. The winner of the competition will earn the final roster spot in the 2015 State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, which will be aired live on ESPN will take place during Final Four Weekend in Indianapolis, Ind. The winner will be solely determined by the fans and ballots can be cast once PER DAY PER PLATFORM (ex. Twitter, Facebook, Email). It can be found on www.DarkHorseDunker.com. Second-round voting will end at 12 p.m. next Wednesday while the Semi-Finals will begin immediately at that time.