SAN ANTONIO – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team beat the Texas A&M – Commerce Lions 79-75 on Saturday night.
 
Jonathan Cisse led the team once again scoring a season-high 26 points. Trey Miller also had himself a night, scoring 19 points while Davante Dennis added 10.
 
The Cardinals and Lions started the game battling and with just under 12 minutes to go in the first half, UIW found themselves in a close game up 16-15. The Cardinals caught fire going on an 11-2 run over the course of the next seven minutes, knocking down three 3-pointers to push their lead to 10, 27-17. UIW was stifling on the defensive end forcing 10 turnovers, six of which were steals, in the first half. They continued to roll offensively, having their highest-scoring first half since starting conference play, holding a 40-27 lead going into the break.
 
Coming out of the break the Cardinals kept scoring, extending their lead all the way to 18 with 13:09 in the second half (54-36). The Lions were able to respond behind C.J. Roberts who had 18 points in the half and Jerome Brewer Jr. who added 14. With 3:46 remaining the Lions had cut their deficit to eight, the first time the lead had been in single digits since the first half.
 
Both teams went back and forth, trading baskets until Commerce was forced to begin intentionally fouling with 30 seconds left, down six. The best free throw shooter in the Southland Conference, Jonathan Cisse, was fouled three times and made five out of six of his free throws keeping the Cardinals in the lead despite the Lions' success cutting into the lead with some sharp shooting. With around 10 seconds remaining, Dennis flew in deflecting an inbounds pass and helping UIW force a turnover to regain possession up by five. Cisse once again was sent to the line and converted twice. Commerce hit one last 3-pointer on their final possession, but it was too late and UIW won by a final score of 79-75.
 
The Cardinals will play their final game of the regular season next week Wednesday against the Northwestern State Demons at 8 p.m.
 
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