- Box Score
LAWTON, OKLA. – The No. 4 Texans escaped Lawton, Okla. with a 65-62 victory as Cameron's buzzer-beater fell short and Tarleton picked up their 14th-straight win.
Tarleton and Cameron faced off for the second time this season and it marked the first contest for the Texans since head coach Lonn Reisman's 500th victory at Tarleton on Saturday night.
The Aggies came out fighting and showed Tarleton that they meant business on their home floor.
The Texans took an initial 7-2 lead, but the Aggies pulled back within one at the 14:10 mark, 9-8.
Tarleton put together another run and pushed the lead back to five, but Cameron continued to hang with the Texans courtesy of Milton Garner's three-pointers.
The Texans led all the way down to the 3:44 mark of the first half when Garner tied the game up at 24-24. Tarleton was getting some good looks, but turnovers gave Cameron more opportunities than the Texans would have liked.
The Aggies took back the lead on another Garner three, making it a 27-26 ball game with 2:18 remaining in the half.
The Texans got a couple of late shots towards the end of the half, but they just didn't fall and Tarleton entered the break trailing for the second time this season.
The Texans found themselves down at halftime, 31-27.
At the break, Tarleton was shooting 50 percent from the floor, but committed eight crucial turnovers compared to Cameron's two. Also, the Aggies shot 44.8 percent of their shots and had 11 more attempts.
Cameron led despite not shooting a single free throw in the first half, while Tarleton hit 7-of-9 attempts.
Shedrick Haynes was the Texans' leading scorer with eight points, while Wes Dipprey chipped in seven points and six rebounds.
Tarleton struggled to find an answer for Cameron's leading scorer Milton Garner, who had 13 points at the half.
The second half got started with Cameron leading by four, but Tarleton quickly took care of that. Whatever Coach Reisman said at halftime got the troops fired up as they came out firing on all cylinders.
The Texans' leading scorer on the season Chris Harrell got hot and hit a couple of huge baskets to go along with some buckets by Brian Word that gave Tarleton a 44-39 lead at the 14:00 mark.
With a little bit of momentum in their favor, the Texans continued to press the pace of the game and got the lead up to double-digits by the midway point of the second half, 53-43.
Tarleton enjoyed their biggest lead of the game for just a few moments before Cameron started their comeback.
The final five minutes of the ball game saw ups-and-downs from both teams as the Aggies clawed their way back into the ball game.
With 2:08 on the clock, the Texans had a narrow 61-56 lead when the officials started to make their presence known on the court. Both teams stepped up their physicality and in turn, the referees blew their whistles. Tarleton and Cameron were both in the bonus in the last stages of the game, so It looked like the game would be won or loss at the charity stripe.
Cameron converted a clutch bucket after the Texans missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity, cutting the deficit to three with 1:05 left in the game.
On Tarleton's next possession, the No. 4 team in the nation went to their bread and butter as Fabian Wilson hit a big shot to push the lead back to five. The Aggies responded with another basket and kept it a three-point ball game with 16.3 seconds remaining.
A foul put Harrell at the line, the No. 3 free-throw shooter in the LSC. The senior from Elgin hit both and made it a five-point game yet again.
Cameron would not go away though and went with another quick basket and foul on the Texans.
It was once again Harrell who would go to the line for a pair of vital free throws with 10 seconds remaining.
This time both were missed, but the Aggies' last ditch effort was an off-balanced three pointer that fell short into Wes Dipprey's hands.
With that, the Texans survived with a 65-62 victory in Lawton. Tarleton improved their record to 18-1 on the year and 10-0 in conference play.
Harrell led Tarleton with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Wes Dipprey added nine points and 10 rebounds. Shedrick Haynes and Brian Word both contributed 11 points and Fabian Wilson added 10 points.
As a team, the Texans shot 60.0 percent from the floor, their highest total of the season. They held Cameron to 41.5 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range.
Tarleton won the game despite committing more turnovers and being out-rebounded 28-25.
At 10-0 and with eight games remaining, the Texans have now clinched a spot in the Lone Star Conference tournament in Allen, TX.
“We had to make a decision to put us in a position to win,” said Reisman. “That was a hard-fought game and we had to come out in the second half ready to play because that first half was not Tarleton basketball.”
Tarleton will return home to host No. 10 Midwestern State as Fox Sports Southwest's Game of the Week on FoxSportsSouthwest.com. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and follows the women's contest. The live video feed can be found at the web address above or by going to LoneStarConference.org.
For more information regarding the 2011-12 Texan basketball campaign, check out TarletonSports.com.
