FORT WORTH – After flustering the No. 4 Langston Lions (14-2, 6-2 SAC) all of the first half and much of the second half, the comeback came quick and like a blur as Langston edged Texas Wesleyan (8-9, 3-6 SAC) Saturday afternoon at the Sid Richardson Center.
 
The Rams picked up right where they left off Thursday night in their win over Central Christian. Peyton Sallee and Sam Lorenzen were on fire, Diing Lwal Diing was effective and efficient, while guys like Joe Cook-Green and Rob Thomas provided valuable minutes on both ends of the floor.
 
The first half was a dizzying experience, as Rams Head Coach Brennen Shingleton kept Langston and his own bench on their toes with 22 substitutions in the first half – a sub every 54.5 seconds. The shuffling in and out of different personnel helped the Rams win all the matchups and kept the Lions scrambling. It led to a 42-34 halftime advantage, at one point pulling ahead by as many as 15, 40-25 with 2:51 to play before the locker room break.
 
While the pace slowed in the second half just a bit, the Rams still had answers for just about everything, building a 53-36 advantage with 15:00 to play. That's when the Lions woke up. Coming off a blowout loss against Southwest Assemblies of God Thursday, one of the nation's top teams was bound and determined not to loss their second-consecutive conference game.
 
Over the next 10:30, the Lions went on a 33-14 run, forcing nine turnovers before finally taking their first second half lead with 4:50 to play. Texas Wesleyan responded on the next possession as Lorenzen hit a three to put the Rams back up 70-69, but that would be the last lead TXWES would possess.
 
The Lions made 23-of-27 free throws, including their last four in the final 21 seconds. Lorenzen scored a season high 20 points and has now scored at least 18 points in three-straight outings. He's 14-of-26 from downtown in those contests. Sallee scored 10 with four boards and two assists but was held in check the second half. Cook-Green scored 12 off the bench while Thomas added 12 points, three boards, three assists and two steals.
 
Diing finished with eight points and seven boards but committed a costly six of the Rams season-worst 24 turnovers. Those turnovers contributed to 37 points for Langston, who only had eight steals. Justin Flakes finished with a season-best plus-four assist-to-turnover differential (six assists – season high - to two turnovers) as an outlier to the day's most critical stat.
 
The Rams hit 54 percent of their shots (27-of-50), 11-of-21 from deep (52.4 percent) in defeat.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will host No. 12 Oklahoma City, who is on a four-game slide since that poll was released, losing to Oklahoma Panhandle State 90-86, Saturday. The Stars haven't won since December 15. Both teams are in desperate need of a win to turn their season's around as the conference begins to separate itself into a top and bottom half (sixth place is 5-3, while seventh is 3-5, including Oklahoma City).