Box Score LAWTON, Okla. – The Cameron men's basketball survived a late comeback attempt by South Dakota School of Mines but closed out their non-conference season with a 55-53 win against on Sunday afternoon at the Aggie Gym.

Mines had an opportunity to at least tie the game in the closing seconds but missed a jumper before the buzzer to give CU their sixth win of the season.

"I liked out guy's effort tonight, they played really hard, but we still have a few things to clean up," said head coach Nate Gamet.  "The first half was one of the better halves that we had this season…we had a good shooting percentage, didn't turn the ball over, and we were really efficient."

Cameron (6-5) had to use a smaller lineup against the Hardrockers (5-12) for the majority of the second half after their two big guys Tank Mayberry and Aaron Thompson were both hit with their fourth foul with more than 10 minutes left to play.

"Trevor (Smith), Jony (Patino), and Will did a good job stepping up tonight and battling in spots that are out of their position, I think if we had our big guys in their it would be a difference in getting some better looks outside but was I really pleased on how those three stepped up," added Gamet.

Both teams were stuck like glue to each other early with five ties in the first half and both teams taking the lead.  The Aggies created their largest lead of the half after a Hardrocker technical foul to put CU on a 4-0 run to close the half with the 29-23 advantage. 

Despite the low scoring half, both teams shot around 45% from the field.  Craig Foster had eight first half points, with Sean McGary having six.

Cameron extended their lead to nine points in the second half before being forced to go with a smaller lineup after being after sitting Mayberry and Thompson who both fouled out.  The Hardrockers took advantage of CU's foul trouble and took a slim one point lead with five minutes left.

The Aggies rallied in the final minutes and a with a 53-53 tie, SDSM&T put Will Cook at the line with 30 seconds left.  Cook would sink both shots at the line to put Cameron ahead for the last time.

Cook was Cameron's leading scorer with 16 points; McGary added 11 points, with Foster chipping in nine.  The Ags shot 44.9% from the field but was out-rebounded 29 to 24.

Cameron will start their conference season at Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday at 8:30 pm.

"During conference play there is never a night off for us at home or on the road; we just need to be geared into what we need to do," said Gamet.