LAWTON, Okla. – An ugly game broke out at Aggie Gym in Lawton, Okla. on Saturday, as two previously undefeated teams battled, and unfortunately, the No. 6 Tarleton Texans fell 49-44.
Tarleton averaged just .319 from the floor and had 13 turnovers while being outrebounded 41-21 in the loss as the Texans fell to 4-1 on the season after the Texans dropped the first Lone Star Conference crossover game of the season.
Cameron improved to 4-0 after the win as they held Tarleton without a bucket for two long stints in the first half. The first of 6:06 came between 14:25 and 8:19 and the second came in the last 5:06 of the first period.
The Texan guards were eight-of-32 combined from the field as the post players had just eight rebounds. Tarleton was outrebounded on its offensive end of the floor 26-6.
“This was not a good effort from our team tonight,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “I can't remember the last time we have been outrebounded by such a large margin. I have been saying that we have to continue to get better, and tonight, we see that we have a lot of work to do.”
Tarleton jumped out to a 3-0 lead when Warren Webb hit a three at 18:22, but neither team scored again until Donta Smith had a steal and dunk at 14:25 to make it 5-0. Cameron then had two free throws by Vinicius Telo at 12:58 for its first points of the game. Terry Dawson made the first bucket for the home team at 9:54 to cut the lead to one before Milton Garner had a jumper in the paint at 8:33 to make it 6-5 Aggies.
Corin Henry then found Wale Ogunoye for a layup before Henry hit a jumper at the top of the key. At 5:06, Fabian Wilson made it 12-6 with a three-point shot from the top of the arc. Cameron then outscored the visitors 9-2 over the last 4:29 with buckets from Thomas Razor, Telo and Terry Dawson. Henry had two free throws for the Texans at 1:38 to give Tarleton their only points in the run and a 14-12 lead, but Dawson hit a three from the left side of the floor to put the Aggies ahead 15-14 at the break.
The Aggies scored the first six points of the second half to take a 21-14 lead before Henry stopped the attack with a jumper. Davis had a jumper for the home team before the Texans went on a run of their own. Devon Hills had two free throws before Wilson hit another three, Wes Dipprey had a fastbreak layup and Darrion Washington had a layup. Tarleton led 25-23 with 13:05 on the clock.
Dawson and Carrington Tankson traded threes within the 12-minute mark to put the Texans ahead 28-26. After a Cameron free throw, Tankson hit a jumper before Trevor Smith had a bucket. Webb got a putback on the return trip before a turnover led to two free throws by Wilson. Tarleton led 34-29 with 9:47 remaining in the half.
The Aggies cut the lead to two, but Ogunoye had a layup in the middle of the paint to make it 36-32 Tarleton before Thomas Razor had hit both sides of the one-and-one for CU and Murray had a alyup to tie the score at 36 with 6:27 on the clock.
With 4:20 remaining in the contest, Wilson had a reverse layup to return the lead to the Texans. Telo hit the backend of a two-shot foul at 3:57 to cut the lead to one before Wilson was fouled on a shot 19 seconds later. The Texan junior connected on both bonus shots to make it 40-37 at 3:43. Razor then had a three-point play the hard way to tie the game at 40 with 3:23. Henry went to the line to shoot two for Tarleton at 2:54, and the senior hit the first free throw, but he missed the second.
With 2:05 on the clock, Murray had a layup to give CU a 42-41 lead prior to Davis fouling out of the game at 1:50 when he pushed Wilson in the back. The Texan junior shot a one-and-one, and he made the first to tie the game at 42. However, the second shot was missed and a rebounding foul was called on Webb. Murray had two free throws on the other end for the home team, and he missed both as Dipprey grabbed the defensive board.
At 1:23, Hills found Dipprey underneath to give Tarleton the two-point lead, 44-42. Murray was fouled rebounding on the offensive end, and he hit the backend of a two-shot bonus to cut the lead to one. With 23.8 seconds on the clock, Murray got a putback to make it 45-44 home team. A missed basket on Tarleton's end of the floor made Tarleton foul Telo. With 6.9 seconds left, the Aggie hit both free throws to make it 47-44 Cameron.
Tarleton took a timeout with 3.0 seconds on the clock, and Hills threw the ball away. A foul was called with 1.3 seconds on the clock, and Razor hit both bonus shots to give the game its final total, 49-44.
Wilson had 13 points to lead the Texans as the visitors' only double digit points. Hills had five rebounds to lead the team.
Tarleton shot .319 from the floor (15-47), .211 from the three-point arc (4-19) and .769 from the charity stripe (10-13).
Murray, Telo and Razor all had 11 points to lead the team as Dawson had 10 points. Murray had 13 rebounds and Telo had 10 for the home team.
The Aggies averaged .378 from the field (17-45), .250 from the arc (2-8) and .684 from the line (13-19).
Tarleton will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 2 at home against Southeastern Oklahoma at 8 p.m. in Stephenville as LSC crossover action continues.
