COMMERCE, Texas (Jan. 28, 2012) ¬¬—Cameron fought hard on the road Saturday night in Commerce, Texas, but the home team proved too much en route to a 76-69 loss for the Aggies.

“We’ve just been struggling last couple of games on executing,” said Head Coach Wade Alexander. “It really showed tonight. It’s coming down to teams that have to win to get into the playoffs. They are must-win games, so we are getting everyone’s best. We need to come out and listen better and execute better or it’s going to be a rough stretch of games.”

Cameron (11-7, 7-5) found out early they were in for a fight against the home team Lions, as the teams traded baskets throughout the half. The Lions went on a 9-2 run down a two minute stretch to take an early lead, but the Aggies would answer back with an 11-2 run, including six by senior Milton Garner, to take a two point lead of its own at 22-20 with 4:44 left. The teams would go shot for shot for the rest of the half, ending in a 29-28 lead for Cameron.

The teams remained even throughout the start of the second half, with the Lions ups 46-45, until the 11-minute mark. From there, the Cameron would be outscored 30-25 for the rest of the game. Senior Milton Garner led the way for the Black and Gold with 34 points, but the team failed to find much help elsewhere, as no other Aggies reached double-digits in any other categories. Cameron struggled with fouls throughout much of the second half in a game that saw senior Thomas Razor and junior Andrew Thomas foul out, while Garner and junior Dol Kutey each finished with four fouls.

“We need to defend better,” Alexander said. “We are giving too high of shooting percentage to everybody; just not defending at all.”

“We got zero offensive rebounds first half, 17 in the second half. We need to put a full game together and rebound.”
 
The loss drops Cameron into a tie for third place with West Texas A&M and Incarnate Word, both of whom lost to the Aggies early in the season. Cameron will travel to San Angelo, Texas, Wednesday for its next contest at 7:30 p.m. against Angelo State (9-11, 2-8).

“We’ve just got to get our defense corrected,” he said. “We are still in third place, but we’ve got to win some of these games to hold our spot. We are only going to be able to do that defensively.”