East Texas A&M brought a 2-0 record into Wednesday's home game against Fairleigh Dickinson, and Mohamed Diakite's 23 points in a 72-71 win over the Rice Owls were the reason the Lions had momentum to carry into tipoff. The one-point finish left East Texas A&M unbeaten and gave Diakite a performance that set the tone for the next test in Commerce, Texas.
The game was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EST, the kind of early start that puts pressure on a team to arrive sharp from the opening tip. East Texas A&M had already shown it could finish a tight game, while Fairleigh Dickinson came in at 1-2 and had gone 3-15 on the road last season, a mark that makes every possession harder to trust away from home.
Diakite's scoring stood out because it accounted for nearly a third of East Texas A&M's points against Rice, and that is the kind of output a coach can lean on when a game tightens late. The Lions, who went 11-21 last season and averaged 70.2 points per game, have already matched that standard by opening 2-0, even though they were 6-8 at home a year ago.
Fairleigh Dickinson arrives with its own recent numbers that matter. The Knights finished 11-21 last season, averaged 5.1 steals per game, 1.5 blocks per game and 10.9 turnovers per game, but the road record is the detail that hangs over this matchup. East Texas A&M does not need a perfect game to stay unbeaten; it needs the same late control that turned a one-point win over Rice into a reason to believe the start can hold up.
That is the part the Lions must prove next. A strong opener matters only if it travels into the next game, and Wednesday's meeting was the first chance to see whether Diakite's scoring touch can keep East Texas A&M on the same path against a visiting team that has already shown how fragile its road form can be.
