FORT SMITH – An instant classic.
Senior guard Darrion Strong-Moore drained a jumper at the free-throw line to give UAFS a one-point lead with 12 seconds to play and senior forward Brett Jolly drew a game-saving charge one second left as the nationally-ranked UAFS Lions held on to beat nationally-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce 63-62 on Saturday night in the finale of the UAFS Holiday Classic at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS (12-0), which is ranked No. 5 in the latest D2SIDA Top 25 and No. 11 in the latest NABC Division II Top 25, continued its best start of its NCAA Division II era while handing Texas A&M-Commerce (10-1), which is ranked No. 22 in the latest NABC Division II Top 25 and No. 23 in the latest D2SIDA Top 25, its first loss of the season.
The Lions enjoyed an eight-point lead (55-47) on a dunk by freshman forward Adam Rivera with 7:26 left in the game, but Willie Rooks sank a pair of free throws with 6:31 to play that ignited a 12-1 run by Texas A&M-Commerce over the next five minutes.
Joseph Williams-Powell capped the run with a layup with 2:25 left to give Texas A&M-Commerce a 59-56 lead.
UAFS tied the game on a 3-pointer by junior guard Chris Crawford, but Texas A&M-Commerce answered with a 3-pointer by Aaron Horne to regain lead with 1:35 to play. Strong-Moore scored on a layup with 1:13 left to get the Lions within one point (62-61) and scored on a jumper at the free-throw line with 12 seconds left to give UAFS the lead 63-62.
Texas A&M-Commerce worked the clock down to the waning seconds before Reggie Reid dribble-penetrated the lane and collided with Jolly. Reid was called for a charge with less than a second left on the clock.
UAFS then in-bounded the ball as time quickly expired.
The Lions shot just 35 percent from the field (23 of 65) – they were 5-of-22 shooting from 3-point range – and shot 75 percent from the free-throw line (12 of 16). Senior guard DaVaunta Thomas had a team-high 19 points, while Strong-Moore had 17.
Senior guard Ladarious Coleman just missed a double-double, finishing with eight points and tying a career-high with a team-high 15 rebounds. He helped UAFS out-rebound Texas A&M-Commerce by four rebounds (47-43).
Texas A&M-Commerce shot 34 percent from the field (21 of 62) – it was 6-of-32 shooting from 3-point range – and shot 70 percent from the free-throw line (14 of 20). Reid had a team-high 20 points to lead Texas A&M-Commerce.
Daquane Willford led Texas A&M-Commerce with eight rebounds.
MEN
NO. 5/11 UAFS 63, NO. 22/23 TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE 62
Texas A&M-Commerce 33 29 62
UAFS 33 30 63
Texas A&M-Commerce (10-1): Reid 20, Willford 9, Rooks 7, Williams-Powell 6, Horne 6, Budimir 6, Armstrong 4, Conrod 4
UAFS (12-0): Thomas 19, Strong-Moore 17, Coleman 8, Wallace 8, Rivera 5, Crawford 3, Elder 2, Jolly 1

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