PORTALES, NM – No. 15 Tarleton got double-figure scoring efforts from five different Texans, including a career best 24 points from Ridell Camidge, en route to a 92-79 rout of Eastern New Mexico at Greyhound Arena Saturday.
 
Eastern New Mexico came out swinging over the first three minutes as the Greyhounds score five of the first seven points before 9 straight points, including five from Camidge, got the Texans rolling and out to an 11-5 lead early on. The Greyhounds pulled within one point in the first half but Tarleton maintained the advantage over the remainder of the opening half, extending its lead to as many as 14 points before taking a 36-27 lead into halftime.
 
Out of the break, things got interesting.
 
Tarleton (8-1, 4-0) pushed its lead out to 19 over the first 3:10 of the new half before the Greyhounds answered with a 20-6 run over the next seven minutes to pull within five points at 54-59.
 
Redshirt-freshmen Anthony Davis and Josh Hawley answered the call on the offensive end as the young Tarleton tandem scored Tarleton's next seven points in a 7-2 surge to push the lead back to 10 with 8:05 left in the game.
 
Eastern New Mexico pulled it back to single digits on two different occasions over the next 1:30, but two Greyhound technical fouls led to six Camidge free throws – all of which tickled the bottom of the net – to keep the Texans at a double-digit advantage. Eastern New Mexico kept the pressure up enough to pull within six at 3:50, but the Texans turned up the heat down the stretch.
 
A Chantz Chambers layup started an 11-0 Tarleton run to extend the lead to 85-68. Meanwhile, the Texan defense kept the Greyhounds scoreless for nearly two minutes over that span, forcing three missed three-pointers and coming away with defensive rebounds. Tarleton maintained a double-digit lead for the final two minutes on its way to a 4-0 start in Lone Star Conference action.
 
"I thought we did a great job of keeping our composure late in the game when things got close," said head coach Lonn Reisman. "(Eastern New Mexico) is a good team and this is a very tough place to play. I'm proud of our guys because this is a tough road trip. I'm proud of the effort and I'm proud of the way we took our game plan to the floor tonight."
 
Camidge poured in his career high 24 points on 6-15 shooting from the field, including three from downtown, and a 9-10 effort from the charity stripe. It is Camidge's first 20-point game for the purple and white.
 
Meanwhile, Deshawn Riddick just missed joining the 20-point club as the junior point guard added 19 points on 4-8 shooting from the floor, including 3-5 from downtown, and 8-10 at the charity stripe.
 
Romond Jenkins added 15 points and nine rebounds while Chantz Chambers and Josh Hawley gave the Texans 12 points each. Davis scored eight while Curtiss Anderson rounded out the scoring with two points.
 
"This was a tough ballgame," said Reisman. "This was a big win for our team tonight and now we'll learn from our mistakes and continue trying to get better."
 
Tarleton will return to action in Wisdom Gym Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. against Southwestern Adventist.