LAWTON – After trailing by 17 early in the first half, the Cameron men's basketball team was within one point of the No. 4 ranked West Texas A&M Buffs late in the second half, but faded down the stretch, losing 86-82 on Friday night.

Cameron entered Friday night's contest against the top-4 ranked Buffs with just one win on the season and needing a strong defensive performance to hang with the high-scoring squad from Canyon.

After some early struggles, CU did just that, cutting a 17-point deficit down to seven late in the first half, However, WT answered with a late period run to take a 44-32 lead into the break. The Aggies were ice-cold from three in the first 20 minutes, going 1-7 from deep while shooting 34.3 percent from the floor.

The Black and Gold turned up the pressure late in the second half, going from down 15 with 12:26 to play, to down four, thanks to an and-one play by Connor Slater, with 9:04 left in the half. A few minutes later, CU used an 8-1 run to dwindle the WT lead down to just one point with 2:42 left to play. Marques Warrior Jr. fueled the run with some nice playmaking and a layup that capped it all off.

West Texas responded with poise, scoring seven straight points to go back on top by six points with just 16 ticks on the clock. A last second put-back layup by Kevin Farmer was CU's last gas in the four-point loss to WT.

Despite giving up 86 points, Cameron held their opposition to under 40 percent from the field, which was just the second time a team has held the Buffs to that shooting percentage all season. WT got 27 of their points from beyond the three-point arc, while they also were 29-40 from the foul line.

On the other end of the floor CU shot 44 percent from the floor, thanks to a 54 percent effort in the second 20 minutes, going just 3-12 from three and 15-18 from the charity stripe. They also turned the ball over 18 times, but out-rebounded their opponent 52-35 with 19 coming on the offensive glass.

Warrior continues to prove why he is one of the best first-year players in the Lone Star Conference, putting up a team-high 18 points to go along with eight assists and six rebounds. Connor Slater added a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double, the first of his collegiate career.

Additionally, Brock Schreiner chipped in 11 points, four assists, and four rebounds, while Kendall Scott added 10 points for CU.  

WT's dynamic guard duo of Qua Grant and Joel Murray led their squad with 49 combined points, getting 24 of those from the free throw line.

The Aggies will see if they can repeat their second-half intensity on Saturday, as the two teams meet again to wrap up the weekend series. Tip-off is set for around 5:30 p.m. or following the women's CU vs. WT matchup.