LAWTON – The Aggie men erased a 13-point second half lead to play spoilers on Thursday night, taking down Texas A&M International 75-65.
Cameron entered Thursday's game already eliminated from earning a spot in next week's Lone Star Conference Tournament, but they hosted a Dustdevil team who was still trying to clinch that final spot. Thanks to a huge second half, CU came back for their fifth win of the season and coach
Jeff Mahoney's 300th as a head men's basketball coach (college and high school combined)
The Dustdevils played the first half like a team fighting for a spot in the postseason. They shot 44.4 percent from the field but missed free throws (3-7) helped the Aggies keep it close, trailing just 31-27 at the halftime break.
International opened the second half with three straight three pointers to extend their lead to 13. The Aggies answered with a 7-0 run of their own to get the deficit back down to three with 12:39 to play. After going back and forth, a pair of made buckets by
Connor Slater tied the game at 49 with 8:30 on the clock.
From there, freshman
John Muhammad led a charge that saw the Aggies take the lead and go up by 13 after a fast break three by
Colt Savage and a pair of
Brock Schreiner free throws at the 3:57 mark. The Dustdevils tried to pressure the Aggies into turnovers and easy points, but Cameron handled it and made enough plays and shots down the stretch to secure the 10-point win.
Cameron was 50 percent from the field in the win, going 7-14 from three and 18-26 from the foul line; TAMIU attempted the same number of free throws but made just 14. CU also out-rebounded their opponent 37-32 and scored 12 points on the fast break.
Savage finished with a team-high 20 points, going 4-6 from three and grabbing five rebounds. Slater added 15 points and eight rebounds,
Kenyon Holcombe scored 12 points and had eight boards as well and Schreiner added 10 points. Muhammad scored all of his career-high 11 points on six shots in the second half.
The Aggies are now 5-17 overall and 3-12 in conference play, snapping a three-game skid with their win. They will wrap up the regular season against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. in the Aggie Gym.
