LAWTON, Okla. – If defense really does win championships, Cameron University and sixth-ranked Tarleton State should be playing late into the basketball season.
The Lone Star Conference rivals more closely resembled squads in the NFL’s Black and Blue division Saturday before a late 7-0 run boosted the Aggies to a 49-44 victory in the CU gym.
The LSC crossover win gives Wade Alexander’s Aggies a 4-0 record. Tarleton falls to 4-1.
The physical nature is reflected in the shooting percentages.
TSU hit 25 percent in the first half and 37 in the second for 31.9 percent. Cameron batted 28.6 and 45.8 for 37.8.
The major difference was in rebounding, where 13 boards by Nathan Murray and 10 by Vinicius Telo paced the Aggies to a 41-21 advantage.
Those two shared team scoring honors with Thomas Razor with 11 points apiece and Terry Dawson added 10. Fabian Wilson came off the bench to lead Tarleton with 13.
“That was a typical Lone Star basketball game of defense on both ends where you can’t hardly get a basket,” Cameron Coach Wade Alexander said. “People probably think by the first-half score (15-14, CU) that aw, man, we can’t shoot, we can’t score. Well, that’s just how it is. It’s hard to get a basket.
“What saved us is we outrebounded them by 20. We really preach rebounding.”
Free throws eventually proved helpful too. Telo and Razor hit a pair apiece in the final six seconds, Razor sealing the win after coming up with a turnover at the 1.3 mark.
The defenses were obvious early. Cameron did not score until Telo hit two free throws with 12:58 left in the half. Dawson got the Ags’ first bucket from the left wing at the 9:58 mark.
When Milton Garner added a driving layup at the 8:33 mark, Cameron had a 6-5 lead.
Both clubs began to make inroads in the last five minutes, Cameron applying the final stroke when Dawson drilled a trey from the corner with 1:04 to play.
That made it 15-14, CU, at the break. The Ags owned a 19-10 rebound advantage, including a 5-0 mark on the offensive glass.
“Dawson scored it really well,” Alexander said.
CU stretched the lead to seven early in the second half. There were four ties and six lead exchanges before Murray put Cameron ahead, 45-44, with a follow shot with 23 seconds left.
Telo was fouled on a rebound and added two free ones for a three-point lead. Razor clinched it.
“What we have to get out of is we’re playing to our competition,” Alexander said. “It’s a good thing when you’re playing with good teams, but it’s a bad thing when you’re playing with bad teams because they’ll sneak up and bite you.
The Aggies have a short turnaround, meeting Rhema Baptist in the Oklahoma City Arena – previously the Ford Center -- at 1 p.m. Monday. They test West Texas State in Canyon on Thursday and Eastern New Mexico in Portales on Saturday in LSC crossover games.
“We still have some things we can fix,” Alexander said. “Like I’ve said all along, we’re not very deep but the guys that we have that are ready now, they’re ready now. We just have to bring a few of the younger guys along and take it day by day.”
