WICHITA FALLS, Texas - No. 10 Midwestern State got off to a quick start and never trailed in taking a 69-50 win over Texas A&M-Commerce in Lone Star Conference play Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
The win was the 10th straight under the dome and the third consecutive since the Mustangs suffered their lone loss of the season at Eastern New Mexico 10 days ago.

MSU built its best start in school history to 16-1 while improving to 9-1 in league play which sets up a showdown with LSC leading Tarleton State Saturday night in Stephenville. The Texans marched to 18-1 on the season and to 10-0 with a 65-62 win Wednesday night at Cameron.

The Mustangs never trailed for the first time since taking its season opener over Mid-America Christian on Nov. 11 as JaMichael Rivers canned a pair of early 3-pointers as MSU scored the first 15 points of the game and stretched the advantage to as many as 22 points and led 36-16 at the intermission.

Midwestern stretched the lead to 69-42 in the second before allowing the Lions to score the final eight points of the contest.

Rivers scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed five rebounds in 23 minutes, while senior guard Michael Loyd narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes of court time.

The Mustangs shot 40.9 percent from the field and out-rebounded Texas A&M-Commerce 44-33 while enjoying a 24-6 edge in fast-break points.

Desmond King and Esteban Arriola notched 10 points to pace the Lions who fell to 6-12 on the season and to 1-9 in league play.