SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Cameron put up a fight in what looked early on to be a one-sided contest against number-4 Drury on Friday afternoon. After trailing by 19 at the half, the Aggies managed to pull even with the Panthers but they would fall 78-71 for CU's second loss in a row. Cameron now sits at 3-2 for the season, while Drury moves to 3-1.
After opening with a 4-0 lead to start the game, the Aggies sank quickly and only made five shots from the field in the first half to shoot 23.8 percent. Drury took advantage of the Aggies cold shooting and built up a 35-11 lead 15 minutes into the contest, and by halftime it was a 43-24 Panther lead. The Aggies managed to score 13 points at the charity stripe, two points more than they would make else ware on the floor.
In the second half, Cameron's opportunity came early and after a 14-4 run in the first five minutes to get Aggies within nine points back of the Panthers, to make it a 47-38 ballgame. In the next few minutes, the Aggies kept pushing the issue with the Panthers and trimmed down the DU lead to a tie at the 12:12 mark after
Cameron Lee made a three ball.
Despite Cameron's run, Drury fought back and went a 12-2 run to take a 63-53 advantage with 9:40 remaining forcing a CU full timeout to regroup. Even with the Panther run, the Aggies went back at chopping down the Drury lead and
Jamaal Brantley hit a layup with 3:33 to go to make it a 66-65 game. However, Brantley's bucket would be Cameron's last of the night as they would fall by seven points to the Panthers.
Brantley led CU with 21 points, while adding five boards,
Deondre Ray came away with 18 points, and
Bruce Barron added eight with five boards.
After only making five field goals in the first half, CU went 57.1 percent in the final 20 minutes, to shoot 42.9 percent overall. Turnovers were a difference on Friday afternoon with CU committing 22, eight more than Drury who got 21 points off of Aggie miscues. The rebounding battle was even at 38 apiece.
Drury was led by Cameron Adams who had a game high 30 points, Mike Nwelue and Drew Moore both added 11 for the Panthers.
Cameron will remain in Springfield to face East Central on Saturday at 1 p.m.
