Aggies play Buffs close
January 10, 2008LAWTON, Oklahoma (January 10) – The Cameron Aggie men's basketball team (2-11) came out strong against a very tough West Texas A&M Buffalo squad (9-5) tonight, but did not have enough to finish out the victory. CU fell to WTAMU tonight by the score 82-66, but the game seemed much closer then the score indicates. Cameron kept chipping away at West Texas A&M's lead, but a late run by the Buffs put the game away.“We just had way too many mental mistakes tonight,” Head Coach Maurice Leitzke said. “West Texas A&M was able to convert on a lot of our mistakes. We didn’t pick up loose balls with two hands and we didn’t catch with two hands, and they were able to turn our turnovers into layups.”
The Aggies turned the ball over just 14 times tonight compared to WTAMU’s 18 turnovers, but were out-shot 51.6% to 42.2%. Cameron took two more shots than West Texas A&M and held the Buffaloes to 11.7% from three-point range. Additionally, the Aggies were out-rebounded 37 to 27.
Cameron started the game with a lead, but quickly gave it up to West Texas A&M who held onto the lead for the remainder of the game. CU kept it close for the first half, going into the locker rooms at halftime down 40-30. When the teams took the floor in the second half, it seemed as if every time WTAMU would try and pull away CU would keep the game close. The Buffaloes at one time had a 19-point lead.“West Texas A&M did so well from the floor because we had so many mental errors,” Coach Leitzke said. “We didn’t play well tonight. We were hanging around in the game, and could not make a push.”
Junior forward Leslie Malone scored a team-high 22 points on 10-15 shooting, and barely missed out on recording his 11th double-double of the season. Tonight, Malone also recorded 2 steals, an assist, a block, and a team-high 7 rebounds. He played in 30 minutes tonight.
Sophomore guard Greg Morgan put in a solid offensive effort tonight, scoring 18 points on 7-20 shooting. He also recorded 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Morgan played in all 40 minutes of tonight’s game.Senior guard Maurice Cubit was the only other Aggies to finish with a double-digit point total tonight, as he recorded 11 points on 4-15 shooting. He also finished with 5 rebounds and a block. Like Malone, Cubit also saw action in all 40 minutes of tonight’s game.
Junior guard Dave Smith spread the ball around effectively tonight finishing with a team-high and game-high 7 assists. He scored just 2 points on 1-4 shooting, and recorded a rebound in 35 minutes of play.
On Saturday the Aggies host the Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico University. The teams tip off at 4:00pm in Aggie Gym.
