Aggies Win National Title
by: Herb Jacobs
Cameron University 84, Alabama State 77 | Box Score
Those magnificent, awesome Cameron Aggies made their dreams come true last night when they defeated Alabama State, 84-77, to win the NAIA's National Basketball tournament. Keeping its cool in the face of a fierce rally by the Hornets, Cameron converted six free throws and got a dunk shot from super sub Keith Kimble in the final 35 seconds to capture its first-ever NAIA crown.
It looked as though it was going to be easy. Lonnie Nichols' finely-tuned team constructed an incredible 23-point lead, 58-35, with 11:40 showing on the Kemper arena clock. Alabama State, which finished the season as the NAIA's top-ranked team, had other ideas. The Hornets latched onto the Aggies with a suffocating full-court press and mathodically fought their way back into contention. They closed it to nine points, 64-55, with 6:38 to go and finally chopped the once huge deficit to three, 76-73, with 37 precious seconds showing.
The Aggies, with Jeff Wilson controlling the ball most of the time, met the challenge as a champion should. Wilson was fouled after Cameron in-bounded the ball against the press and he converted the one-and-one to make it 78-73. Alabama State hurried downcourt and threw the ball away at 0:29. Cameron made the Hornets pay when Ron Meikle found Kimble open under the bucket and fed him for a shut-the-door slam dunk.
Kevin Loder got an ASU bucket at 0:13, but Andre King hit a one-and-one, rebounded a Loder miss and swished two more charities to cap the Cameron scoring. The Aggies gave Melvin Crayton a consolation bucket at the buzzer.
Cameron actually won the ball game in the first 28 minutes. Nichols' crew built a 40-25 halftime lead by hitting 52.9 percent from the field to Alabama State's 30.8. Wilson and, tourney MVP, Leroy Jackson put the defensive clamps on scoring-machine Loder while Melvin Crayton did himself in by picking up three quick fouls.
