SPRINGFIELD, Missouri– The Cameron men's basketball team fell to Truman State 90-85 at the Drury Classic Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Aggies move to 4-3 overall.
From the field, CU finished 53.3% (32-60) and TSU had 48.4% (30-62) on the floor. Cameron made half of its treys to go 7-14, but the Bulldogs would net 13-35 for 37.1%. The charity stripe proved to be the difference with Truman State finishing 81% (17-21) behind the line, while the Aggies went 70% (14-20).
Turnovers also played a factor as the Aggies had 13 to the Bulldogs' seven, and TSU scored 15 points off of the takeaways.
It was a battle early on with five lead changes until Cameron took advantage of a four minute Bulldog scoring drought during which the Aggies scored 12 points to lead 24-15. Three critical Truman three-pointers in the final five minutes would allow the Bulldogs to tie the game at 34 and again at 36 behind good free throws. With 15 seconds remaining, a Truman layup would give the Bulldogs the 38-36 edge at the half.
In the first half, the Aggies shot 45.2% (14-31) from the field while Truman shot 43.8% (14-32). Cameron had the slight advantage from behind the arc, going 4-8 (50%) versus the Bulldogs' 5-16 (31.3%). However, Truman forced eight Aggie turnovers and had five steals from which they scored nine points.
Cameron grabbed the lead back to start the second half, but Truman State would drain three consecutive treys to take the 55-52 edge. The score remained tight with six lead changes, but the Bulldogs remained on top at 62-61. With TSU leading by ten points, CU would go on a run to come within two points at 76-74, but the Bulldogs hit another three to hold the edge and go on to win 90-85.
Cameron improved its shooting to 62.1% (18-29) from the field and retained an even 50% shooting deep and went 66.7% (10-15) from the line. The charity stripe is where the Bulldogs edged the Aggies as they only missed two free throws (12-14) for 85.7%. TSU shot 53.3% in the second and 42.1% from beyond the arc with eight made treys.
Jamaal Brantley led the Aggies with 19 points and
Deondre Ray was one behind him with 18.
JV Long had a team high seven rebounds and five assists.
Truman State was led by Cory Myers who had a game high 26 points, ten rebounds and was perfect at the free throw line going 8-8.
The Aggies will remain on the road for their next two contests, stopping first at Dallas Baptist on Dec. 2 and Rogers State on Dec. 5.
