Aggies suffer first defeat, fall to WTAMU

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CANYON, Texas (Dec. 4) - West Texas A&M overcame a 15-point first half deficit and opened the second period with a 14-2 scoring run to hand the Cameron men's basketball team its first defeat of the season Saturday night.

Coach Garrette Mantle's Aggies slipped to 6-1 on the year with an 82-72 loss to the Buffs in Lone Star Conference crossover action at the WTAMU Event Center.

Eric Moore came off the bench once again to lead the Aggie offense on Saturday. The junior transfer guard posted a game-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a 4-of-7 effort from three-point range. Senior Marcus Girtmon and junior Arthur Trousdell added 16 points each as Cameron posted a 46.7 team shooting percentage in the game.

Four WTAMU players scored in double figures, led by Jamil Terrell's 18 points that complimented a game-high 17 rebounds.

Cameron got off to a strong start against the Buffs, scoring the first five points of the game. The Aggies pushed the lead to 11 on a Girtmon layup at the 13:04 mark of the opening period and had a 15-point advantage on two occasions in the half.

But Terrell got the lead down to eight with a pair of free throws just before intermission and the Buffs took their first lead of the game early in the second half. West Texas A&M converted six of its first seven field goal attempts to open the final period, rallying for a 48-44 lead with just under 17 minutes to play.

Cameron answered with an 8-0 run, capped by a Moore layup to make it 52-48 Aggies, but West Texas A&M scored 13 of the game's next 15 points to take the lead for good. The Aggies got within in a point later in the game and trailed by just five after a Trousdell bucket with 2:20 to play. But the Aggies didn't score again until Bam Harmon converted one of two free throw attempts with 27 seconds remaining, as WTAMU used a quick 6-0 spurt to seal the win.

The Aggies will take a break from conference action on Friday, hosting Southwestern Christian in a single contest scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Both Cameron teams will be in action on Saturday, Dec. 12, hosting LSC crossover rival Midwestern State on Cells-U-More Night at Aggie Gym.