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Box Score
 
Season Statistics
 
ALLEN, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's basketball team suffered a tough season-ending loss on Thursday night as the No. 5 seed Buffs fell to No. 4 seed Texas A&M-Commerce, 79-64, inside the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas. But senior Tez Dumars would end his WT career on a high note as he came into the game needing 23 points to pass Buffalo and NBA-great Maurice Cheeks for fourth on the school's all-time career scoring list. Dumars did so with a game-high 25 points. With the quarterfinal round loss, the Buffs are eliminated from the Lone Star Conference Tournament and finish the year by vastly exceeding early outside expectations, owning a 17-12 overall record.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 22-8 and will advance to the semi-finals to face-off with No. 1-seed Tarleton State. After beginning the season picked last in the preseason LSC poll, the Buffs entered the tournament by finishing the regular season as the fifth seed, owning a 7-7 conference record. They returned just three players who saw playing time during the 2013-14 season. Aside from Dumars, that that group includes Miles Gatewood and Antjuan Ball who both finish with outstanding senior campaigns.
 
Dumars led the way for the Buffs with 25 points in his final game as a Buffalo and finishes his career fourth on the all-time scoring list with 1,230 points. He finished shooting an impressive 5-for-7 from the perimeter and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.
 
The Lions would start off hot from the floor, making three of their first four buckets to jump out to a 6-0 lead early at the 17:44 mark. A layup by junior Jeff Bonner would then finally put WT on the scoreboard.
 
WT would play to its worst start all season as things went downhill from there. The Lions would come out roaring, opening the game up with a 20-4 score off of 7-of-9 shooting from the field. The Buffs would continually find the basket capped with a lid, starting just 1-of-7 in field-goal attempts come the under-12 media at 11:29.
 
The Lions would even bring that lead to 20 after a layup by Craig Fofang made the score 35-15 with 4:49 on the clock. Each squad would trade buckets to head into the final media timeout with WT down 37-17 and just over three minutes remaining in the half. Another 6-0 run followed before Ball laid one off the glass.
 
After trailing 41-17 with 2:35 to go, the Lions went cold, missing their final four shots on a scoring drought spanning those final minutes. That would allow the Buffs to close the frame on a 6-0 run, ending with a David Chavlovich triple with just four seconds remaining on the Buffs' final possession. The score showed 41 for the Lions as the clock expired and a tie for season-low 23 in a half for the Buffs.
 
"We got blitzed right away and dug ourselves a big hole early on," noted head coach Tom Brown. "But we had some chances later on and just couldn't pull this one out. I give Commerce a lot of credit and I'm also really proud of this team, especially these three seniors for everything they've done for this team and this program."
 
At the half, Chavlovich led the Buffs with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting. Dumars would finish the frame with only five of his 25 points while freshman Carl White would tally a team-high five rebounds and Ball a team-high two rejections.
 
WT would go just 9-for-24 (.380) from the floor in the first 20 minutes while allowing the Lions to go 16-for-32 (.500). The Buffs would turn the ball over 10 times in the half. Leading all scorers was LSC Player of the Year Derrell Williams for TAMUC with 10 points.
 
The Buffs upped the tempo defensively from the get-go in the second half. After trailing 44-25 early in the half, WT managed a 10-4 run thanks to big 3-point buckets by Dumars and Gatewood. That would cut the deficit to 13 with the Lions leading 48-35 with 13:35 left.
 
Cutting it within 11 would continue to prove challenging for the Buffs over the remainder of the game. A big part of that problem would be Williams on the other end who finished tied for a game-high 25 points and an LSC Championship record 21 rebounds.
 
WT would get numerous chances in the final 10 minutes but struggled to take advantage of poor shooting all-around and turnovers on the Lions' part.
 
But a special moment would come at the 6:09 mark as Dumars made history, moving into that fourth spot on WT's all-time career scoring list after draining his fifth 3-pointer on the night. That would cut TAMUC's lead back to 11 and the score 65-54.
 
The Lions would hold on, stretching their lead to as many as 15 in the final minutes. That allowed the fourth-seed TAMUC to advance off a final score of 79-64.
 
TAMUC dominated in the paint on Thursday, outscoring WT 42-20. The Lions would also finish with a 47-34 rebounding advantage.
 
WT capped off an impressive season to begin the Tom Brown era in Canyon, finishing the year with a 17-12 record in his first season after taking the head coaching job, coming from Division II powerhouse Winona State previously.
 
"It wasn't anything preparation-wise in this game," added Gatewood. "I feel like we were ready coming in and the coaches had us in the right mindset. But some things just didn't come together for us tonight, whether it was shots falling or coming out flat on defense."
 
Chavlovich also tallied double-figures for the Buffs, scoring 13 points with five rebounds and two steals. Gatewood finished with six points and two boards. White capped off the day with 10 rebounds while Ball tallied six boards and eight points.
 
WT still leads the all-time series with TAMUC 47-30; however, has dropped all three meetings this season and five-straight overall. This was the 10^th all-time meeting between the two programs in the LSC Tournament and with the win, the Lions knot that series mark at 5-5 overall.
 
Though WT's season may be over, there is plenty left to be excited about in Buffalo basketball. 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 now made it through to the Finals as one of the final two remaining competitors. Final round voting began Wednesday, March 4, and will go till Wednesday, March 11, in a bracket-style format, where the winner is decided entirely by the fans. 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. Votes can be cast once PER DAY PER PLATFORM (ex. Twitter, Facebook, Email). It can be found on www.DarkHorseDunker.com. Antjuan currently faces Davene Carter of LSC rival Tarleton State. We need your help Buff nation. So come out strong in the voting in the next six days and let's get "West Texas A&M" represented on the national stage for millions to see!