CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes used four players in double-digits including a double-double by senior Jeff Bonner in his last home game at the First United Bank Center as the Buffs raced past the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions, 93-84 in front of over 1,200 fans on Wednesday night in Canyon, Texas. The Buffs move into a tie for first place in the Lone Star Conference with an overall mark of 20-8 (8-4 LSC) for their first 20-win season since 2010-11 while the Lions fall to 16-9 (5-7 LSC) on the season.
 
The Buffs controlled the opening tip as Ryan Quaid found Jeff Bonner under the bucket for an easy layup followed by a Lions miss from deep that led to a Bonner offensive board and Tommy Gove long ball from the wing at 5-0, Ronnie White scored the first points of the night for Commerce with a turnaround jumper before Jerrod Walton hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Commerce miss and a Bonner board-and-score at 8-2. Rylan Gerber picked off a Lions pass as Quaid knocked down a three from the top of the key followed by a White jumper in the paint before Walton hit two at the line followed by a Anthony Adams bucket, David Chavlovich answered with a deep three from the wing followed by turnovers on both ends heading into a media timeout with 14:43 left and WT leading 16-6.
 
Adams hit two at the line after the break followed by a Jordan Evans long ball from the top of the key before a Commerce missed dunk and another Evans three to run the WT lead to 22-8, Adams responded with a jumper in the lane followed by a WT miss from deep before an Evans defensive board but Bonner was called for a charge at 22-10 with 12:54 left. Walton rejected a Lions shot but TAMUC kept possession on a team rebound before Eric Golightly Jr. stole away the ball heading into a media timeout with 12:!5 left and WT leading 22-10.
 
The Buffs missed on an inbound attempt after the break followed by a Commerce offensive foul as the Lions rejected a WT shot attempt followed by Bryant Crowder hitting two freebies at 22-12, Walton found Quaid under the bucket for an easy layup followed by a Jeremy Jones floater in the lane before a Commerce steal-and-score with a Buffs foul as De'Andre Carson finished off the three-point play at 24-17. The Buffs gave the ball right back with a turnover that led to a White easy bucket followed by a Walton jumper before another WT foul led to White hitting two free throws at 26-21, WT gave the ball away again but TAMUC missed from deep as Evans knocked down a contested three from the wing before misses on both ends. The teams traded misses again before Jones finished a fast break layup that was answered by a Golightly Jr. long ball, Jones scored again followed by a WT miss but Evans rejected a Lions shot heading into a media timeout with 6:24 left and WT leading 32-25.
 
Gerber rejected a Lions shot but the Buffs gave the ball back right after the break followed by misses on both ends before a Lions turnover with 5:21 left, WT missed from deep again followed by a Jones fast break bucket before another Buff miss and a White jumper in the lane at 32-29. Chavlovich's board and score stopped the small Commerce run before JR Owens knocked down a three from the top of the key heading into the last media timeout of the half with WT leading 34-32 with 3:31 left.
 
Chavlovich knocked down two at the line after the break followed by a Craig Fofang jumper in the paint before Evans hit two freebies at 38-34, the teams traded misses followed by a Jones three-point play followed by a Garrett Brockman three from the wing before a Lions miss that led to an Evans long ball at 44-37. White slammed home a finish followed by a WT miss from deep and a Fofany board-and-score, the teams traded misses again before a Commerce shot attempt at the buzzer couldn't find the mark as WT took a 44-41 lead into the break.
 
The Buffs went 14-of-34 (41.2%) from the floor in the first half including 9-of-20 (45%) from deep and 7-of-8 (87.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 20 fouls (seven offensive, 13 defensive), seven fouls, 11 assists, seven turnovers, four blocks and four steals. Evans went 4-of-8 from the floor including 4-of-6 from deep to lead WT with 14 points at the break.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce went 16-of-34 (47.1%) from the floor in the first twenty minutes including 1-of-4 (25%) from deep and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line to go along with 19 rebounds (five offensive, 14 defensive), eight fouls, four assists, six turnovers, one block and three steals. White went 5-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to lead the Lions at the break with 12 points while Fofang grabbed six rebounds.
 
Owens started the scoring in the second half with a jumper followed by a WT miss under the basket that led to a White layup for Commerce's first lead of the game at 44-45, the Buffs gave the ball away as Jones turned it into a fast break layup followed by misses on both ends before a Quaid board-and-score at 46-47. Gerber picked off a Lions pass as Bonner finished under the bucket followed by a Commerce miss and Gerber long ball from the wing at 51-47, Jones answered with a three from the corner followed by a WT miss and Owens layup before Quaid answered with a three from the top of the key, Adams resoponded with a layup followed by a WT miss from deep heading into a media timeout with the teams tied at 54-54 with 14:43 left.
 
Isaac Asrat registered his first points of the game after the break followed by a Commerce foul as Walton hit one-of-two at the line at 55-56, the teams traded misses and turnovers as Chavlovich finished in the lane with a layup followed by a Crowder board-and-score before Walton found Evans under the net for a layup, Crowder answered with a slam followed by a WT miss from deep heading into a media timeout with Commerce leading 60-59 with 10:45 left.
 
Crowder's board-and-score extended the Commerce lead after the break followed by a Quaid bucket and a TAMUC miss as Chavlovich hit a transition three to give WT the 64-62 lead, Asrat answered with a bucket followed by a WT miss from deep before TAMUC gave WT the ball back with a foul and a technical. Chavlovich hit two freebies and WT retained possession as the sophomore knocked down a three from the wing followed by a WT foul heading into a media timeout with 7:53 left and the Buffs leading 69-64.
 
White hit two at the line after the break followed by a WT steal and foul but the Lions gave the ball right back as Bonner finished in the paint before Adams answered with a three-point play at 71-69, Golightly Jr. grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a bucket before Commerce responded with a layup of their own with 5:42 left. Chavlovich finished under the basket before Adams hit a jumper just inside the arc followed by a TAMUC foul but WT missed both at the line at 75-73. Quaid grabbed a defensive board followed by another Commerce technical foul as Chavlovich hit both, the Lions answered with a steal-and-score with a foul as Jones finished off the three-point play heading into a timeout with WT leading 77-76 with 4:27 left. Chavlovich nailed a contested three from NBA range followed by another Crowder bucket before Evans hit a three with a Commerce foul to head into the last media timeout with WT leading 83-78 with 3:24 left.
 
Chavlovich hit two freebies after the break and WT retained possession followed by a Bonner board-and-score to run the lead to 87-78, TAMUC missed the front-end of a one-and-one as Bonner grabbed a board that led to another Commerce foul as Chavlovich hit two more at the line at 89-78. TAMUC missed a jumper and fouled as Quaid hit one-of-two. Commerce hit two at the line followed by a WT miss from deep as Owens hit two more at 90-82, WT missed again as Jones finished  fast break layup heading into a TAMUC timeout with 45.5 left. Commerce was called for an intentional foul as Quaid hit both followed by another Lions foul as Quaid hit one-of-two followed by a Commerce miss to give the Buffs the 93-84 win.
 
The Buffs went 29-of-68 (42.6%) from the field including 15-of-35 (42.9%) from deep and 20-of-26 (76.9%) from the charity stripe to go along with 38 rebounds (16 offensive, 22 defensive), 17 fouls, 17 assists, 10 turnovers, four blocks and five steals. Chavlovich went 7-of-18 from the floor including a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line to lead the Buffs with 28 points followed by Evans (19), Quaid (16) and Bonner (10) who finished with a double-double with 11 rebounds.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce went 33-of-63 (52.4%) from the field including 2-of-8 (25%) from behind the arc and 16-of-17 (94.1%) from the free throw line to go along with 35 rebounds (nine offensive, 26 defensive), 20 fouls, 11 assists, 10 turnovers, three blocks and five steals. Jones went 9-of-15 from the floor and 1-of-3 from deep to lead the Lions with 21 points followed by White (18), Adams (13) and Crowder (10).
 
The Buffs return to action on Saturday night as they head to Stephenville, Texas for a Lone Star Conference battle with the Tarleton State Texans with tipoff set for 7 p.m. at Wisdom Gym. The Buffs shot lights out in the first meeting between the two teams as WT topped the Texans (78-61) back on January 23^rd at the First United Bank Center.