The UAFS men’s basketball team turned to a pair of senior leaders on Saturday to crush an upset bid by the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies.
            Senior guard Kelson Stewart and senior forward Wayne Jackson each scored in double-figures to lead the Lions to a come-from-behind 53-50 Heartland Conference win at the Stubblefield Center.
            It was the second win in a row for the Lions (12-11, 5-4), who had lost four games in a row prior to this latest conference homestand. UAFS remained in fifth place in the conference – one-half game behind Dallas Baptist (14-8, 5-3). Newman University (15-5, 7-1), which UAFS beat 70-59 in overtime on Thursday, and Texas A&M International (17-4, 7-1) are tied for first. St. Mary’s (13-7, 6-3) is third.
            It was literally a tale of two halves for the UAFS senior duo.
            Stewart scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the first half to keep the Lions within striking distance at halftime down 29-23. Jackson took over in the second half, scoring 10 of his 14 points and pulling down five of his 10 rebounds.
            It was the second consecutive double-double for Jackson, who leads the team with four double-doubles.
            UAFS trailed 33-32 before junior forward Djordje Stojanovic drained a 3-pointer with 12:43 left to give the Lions their first lead since the 8:15 mark of the first half. Panhandle State answered quickly with a layup by freshman guard Michael Patterson with 12:02 left to tie the game one final time.
            Jackson then scored on a sky hook in the paint to give the Lions the lead for good (37-35) with 11:40 left to play. The Lions pushed their lead to eight points three times in the final eight minutes but couldn’t quite shake the Aggies.
            Panhandle State rallied to within one point (51-50) on a 3-pointer by senior guard D’ron Walker with 1:44 to go, but junior guard Shawn Grant answered with a jumper to extend the Lions’ lead to three points (53-50) with 49 seconds left.
            The Aggies missed two shots in the final 13 seconds – a jumper by Walker and a layup by senior forward Bill Lee – allowing the Lions to hang on for the win.
            UAFS shot 40 percent from the field (21-of-53) – it was 6-of-22 from 3-point range – but shot just 56 percent from the free-throw line (5-of-9). The Lions dominated the rebounding battle 38-24, including 14 offensive rebounds that led to 11 second-chance points.
            Panhandle State, which lost for the fifth time in a row and 11^th time in 12 games, shot 42 percent from the field (20-of-48) – it was 8-of-20 from 3-point range – and shot 67 percent from the free-throw line (2-of-3).
            Senior guard Kevin Geofroy led the Aggies with 16 points, while freshman guard Trestin Clay and Lee had 14 and 10, respectively. Lee had a team-high eight rebounds.
            UAFS will return to conference play at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas.
 
MEN
UAFS 53, OPSU 50
OPSU              29        21        --          50
UAFS               23        30        --          53
OPSU (3-17, 0-8): Geofroy 16, Clay 14, Lee 10, Walker 5, Messer 3, Patterson 2
UAFS (12-11, 5-4): Stewart 15, Jackson 14, Dj. Stojanovic 7, Grant 7, Toupal 3, Mitchell 2, Branham 2, Franklin 2, Du. Stojanovic 1