The Texas A&M Commerce Lions and the IPFW Mastodons meet in college basketball action from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on Monday night.
The Texas A&M Commerce Lions will try to rebound from an 83-64 loss to Abilene Christian last time out. Demarcus Demonia leads the Lions in scoring and rebounding with 15 PPG and 5.4 RPG while CJ Roberts also has 10 PPG with a team-high 2.9 APG to lead the Lions in assists as the only other double-digit scorer for the Lions so far this season. As a team, Texas A&M Commerce is averaging 70.1 PPG on 42.5% shooting from the field, 28% from three and 65.7% from the foul line this season.
The IPFW Mastodons will be looking to build on their current three-game win streak after a 65-61 win over Missouri State last time out. Jarred Godfrey leads IPFW in scoring and assists with 15.3 PPG and 4.2 APG along with 5.9 RPG while Bobby Planutis has 13 PPG with 5.4 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for IPFW up to this point in the year. Deonte Billups also has 9.9 PPG while Ra Kpedi also has a team-high 7.9 RPG to lead the Mastodons on the glass. As a team, Purdue Fort Wayne is averaging 76.1 PPG on 43.9% shooting from the field, 33.6% from three and 69.2% from the foul line this season.
Texas A&M Commerce is 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 road games while the over is 5-2 in their last 7 road games. IPFW is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 home games and 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 games overall.
I get the case to be made for either side here, but I’m actually leaning towards Texas A&M Commerce and the points as the Lions have the ability to keep themselves in this game with their offense. The defense has been an issue, but I haven’t really seen anything from IPFW to feel comfortable laying nearly double-digits with them. All in all, I think this line is just a couple points too large. Give me the Lions and the points here.
