COMMERCE, Texas – In their first Lone Star Conference division contest, the Aggie men's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle to A&M-Commerce on Thursday night, 73-69.

The Aggies shot better than their opponent in their four-point loss but were just 4-19 from three-point range and made 60.7 percent of their free throw attempts. On the other end of the floor, A&M-Commerce hit eight shots from long range and made 65 percent of their foul shots.

Jordan Lewis and Kendall Scott finished with CU-highs of 14 points in the loss. Lewis was 5-10 from the field and 3-5 from deep, while Scott added six rebounds and was 6-6 from the charity stripe. Tyler Williams added 11 points and five rebounds, while Joseph Clark had a team-high nine rebounds.

Cameron used an early 8-0 run to take a 10-4 lead over the Lions, but a three-pointer from Leo Lara cut the deficit to just three by the first media timeout. A&M-C hit another three following the timeout and then took a 13-10 lead into the under-12.

The Aggies were able to answer on a Lewis layup and a free throw by Williams to tie the game at 13, but after trading buckets, the Lions went back up 26-18 thanks to a 12-2 stretch. A cold spell by A&M-Commerce allowed CU to cut the deficit in half, but that lead stretched back out to eight by the break, 36-28.

In the first half, Cameron shot 39.3 percent from the field, almost eight points better than the home squad. However, CU was 1-6 from three and 5-12 from the charity stripe, while the Lions were 5-14 from the perimeter and 9-12 from the free throw line. Williams led CU with seven points at the break, while Lewis and Jalen Nicholas each had six points and Clark grabbed five rebounds.

A&M-Commerce stretched their lead to 12 points early in the second half, but a 7-0 run by the Black and Gold got them back to within five, 44-39, with 15 minutes left to play. After falling behind again by 10 points midway through the second half, CU used a layup from Clark and a three pointer from Lewis to get back to within five with 9:30 on the clock. Just over a minute later, another Clark make and a triple by Andrew Nguyen completed the comeback, tying the game at 55-all.

In the final minutes of the game, the two teams traded scores until a pair of Williams free throws tied the game at 69-all. Both teams went cold in the last 2:00 minutes until the Lions' Wayne Stewart converted an old fashion three-point play to give his team a 72-69 lead with seven seconds left to play. CU turned the ball over in their final possession and a Commerce free throw sealed the 73-69 win.

Stewart finished with a game-high 22 points, leading the A&M-Commerce squad that shot 41.3 percent from the field while going 8-22 from three and 13-20 from the charity stripe.

Thursday's loss is Cameron's fourth in a row as they are now 2-9 overall and 1-4 in LSC play. They will look to record their first division win on Saturday, Jan. 4, when they visit new opponent UT Tyler for a 4 p.m. start.