Aggies stay perfect, knock off Drury

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Nov. 27) - Arthur Trousdell scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half, as the Cameron men's basketball team ran its record to 5-0 with a convincing 71-58 road win over Drury Saturday in the Drury Thanksgiving Classic.

Coach Garrette Mantle's Aggies owned a whopping 46-27 rebounding advantage in the game while opening the season with five straight wins for the fourth time in the past five years. Drury lost for the first time this season, falling to 4-1.

Trousdell continued his solid post play for the Aggies on Saturday. The junior transfer had 16 points by halftime, sparking the Cameron offense with a 6-for-6 shooting effort in the opening period. Trousdell was also 4-of-4 from the line, where he has missed just one of 22 attempts so far this season, and finished the game 8-of-11 from the field.

Eric Moore added 14 points in the game for Cameron, while Marcus Girtmon added 10.

After spotting Drury the first four points of the game, Cameron quickly took the lead for good. Girtmon got the Aggies on the board with back-to-back three-pointers to make it 6-4 in the early going, sparking an 11-0 run. Girtmon's second three-pointer at the 17:49 mark of the first half gave the game its only lead change, as Cameron led by as many as nine in the opening period.

Cameron increased its lead to 11 when Girtmon opened the second half with a jumper to make it 40-29. But Drury, which advanced to last year's NCAA II South Central Regional semifinals, used a 12-4 run midway through the final period to get within two points.

The Aggies answered with a quick 7-0 spurt over the next minute and a half and outscored the Panthers 13-2 the rest of the way to secure the win. Moore connected on a three-pointer with 6:41 to play and hit both ends of a 1-and-1 opportunity at the free throw line a minute later to make it 65-56. Back-to-back layups by Bam Harmon provided the final points of the game with just over three minutes to play, giving Cameron its biggest lead of the game at 13 points.