Senior Kevin Widemond scored 12 and senior Scooby Johnson added 11 in the second half as the Lions outscored East Central, 40-24 in the second 20 minutes, to lead Texas A&M University-Commerce to a 68-55 win over East Central on Saturday afternoon in the A&M-Commerce Field House.

Johnson, who scored 27 on Wednesday against Northeastern State, scored a game-high 25 and Widemond added 15 on the strength of four three pointers to lead the Lions to move into third place in the Lone Star Conference North Division. Presently, the Lions are 10-14 overall and 5-4 in the LSC North and they move ahead of Northeastern State, who dropped a 73-68 decision to Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday.

A&M-Commerce senior Leonard Bishop had a season-best and game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six assists, five points and three steals as well as the defensive responsibilities of ECU's leading scorer Terrell Carpenter.

East Central (13-11, 3-6 LSC North) had three players in double digits including Justin Wilkerson, who scored a team-high 16. He was joined by Terrell Carpenter and Dominique Scales, who scored 14 and 11 points, respectively.

After an ECU three pointer by Tyler Thetford put the Tigers in front 31-28 at the intermission, the Lions began the second half, scoring the first six points for a 34-31 advantage on three-consecutive layups. A&M-Commerce would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the contest.

With a one-point lead, 43-42, with 13:15 left in the game, Widemond hit a jumper and Johnson added his career-best third three pointer to spark a 12-5 spurt by the Lions. With an eight point-advantage, 55-47, an aggressive defensive effort by the Lions held the Tigers without a field to just two field goals over the final 4:38 of the contest.

Next, the Lions host Southwestern Oklahoma on Wednesday at 8 pm at the A&M-Commerce Field House. Earlier this year, on January 30th, the Bulldogs defeated the Lions, 85-78 in overtime in Weatherford, Oklahoma.