LAWTON, Okla. (Jan. 11, 2012) ¬¬— Cameron showed its territorial side Wednesday, defending its home court against the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds with a 72-57 victory.

“It was a good win,” said Head Coach Wade Alexander. “We were just lucky to come out and play so well after having so many days off.”

Cameron (9-3, 6-1) came out firing the first half, pulling ahead to an early 17-4 lead. The Aggies would continue to pour it on throughout the half to the locker room with a 31-18 lead.

 “We really wanted to lock them up defensively,” Alexander said. “I believe they were the leading scoring team in the conference (coming into tonight). To come out and play “D” (defense) like we did (in the first half) was incredible. I think it changed their guy’s attitude and got them down right off the bat. It really gave us a chance to jump on them and hold them down.”

The second half was more competitive, as Eastern New Mexico (9-7, 2-5) was able to pull to within five. But each time it seemed the visitors were poised to make a move, senior Milton Garner put the team on his back and made a big shot. Garner finished with a game high 28 points on 11-19 shooting, including 2-4 from beyond the arc and 4-5 from the line.

“It was another solid performance by Milt (Garner),” Alexander said. “He does that night in and night out. He needs to continue to do that and play well for us. He understands what we need. I think he will only do better, but defenses will get tougher. Eventually, teams are going to make it a point to now allow him to beat them.”

In addition to Garner, another player stuck out to Alexander.

“Dol Kutey played very well,” he said. “He did some things tonight we knew he could do, he just wasn’t getting done in the first semester. We need him to step up.”

As impressive as Garner’s and Kutey’s performances were, the coach remained adamant that they key to this victory was the defense and a total team effort. 

“The key was definitely our defense,” he said. “They run a lot of plays, but we were ready for the majority of them. Everything they ran, we had worked on in practice. It takes all five guys understanding. We’ve got guys willing to sacrifice … step over and take a charge. We are physical and we play hard. We do all the right things to make up for what we lack.”

The win was Cameron’s third consecutive victory over ENMU and moved the Aggies’ win streak to seven games. Up next for the Black and Gold will be a road test against West Texas (11-3, 5-2).

“We have a tough stretch coming up, so we’ll see where we are,” Alexander said.