First half rout gives Aggies win over MSU

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LAWTON, Okla. (Dec. 11) - At one point in Saturday's Lone Star Conference crossover matchup between Cameron and Midwestern State, the Aggies held an impressive 55-20 lead. The scary thing about the score, however, was the fact that there were still five minutes remaining in the first half.

Coach Garrette Mantle's squad put on an offensive clinic, scoring 62 points in the opening period of a 108-90 win over the Indians at Aggie Gym. It was the second straight 100-plus scoring effort for the Aggies, who posted a 101-62 win over Southwestern Christian on Friday.

The win improved the Aggies to 8-1 on the season. Midwestern State, which lost a two-point decision earlier in the week to No. 7 Southwestern Oklahoma, slipped to 4-5.

Four Cameron players combined to do much of the damage against the Indians. Senior forward Marcus Girtmon opened the game with 11 points in the first five minute and had 19 of his 26 points in the game by halftime. Junior center Arthur Trousdell had 10 points by intermission and finished with a game-high 27, incluing an 11-of-13 showing at the charity stripe. Eric Moore added 17 points, while Bam Harmon chipped in 11.

Midwestern got 22 points and a game-high 15 rebounds from senior forward Justin James, while three other Indians managed to score in double figures.

Cameron converted 11 of its first 15 field goal attempts in the game Saturday and had built a commanding 37-10 lead by the midpoint of the opening period. That lead grew to as many as 35 on two occasions in the first half. A Sean Ormsby steal set up Harmon for an easy layup that made it 55-20 with 5:48 left before the half and Ormsby converted a pair of free throws at the 4:32 mark to make it 57-22.

Midwestern cut into the lead with an 11-2 run to open the second half, but Cameron's 62-32 halftime lead proved to be too much to overcome. The Indians nearly matched Cameron's first-half output with 58 second-half points, but the Aggies continued to convert, never allowing the lead to dip below 18 points.

Cameron, which shot a blistering 64.7 percent from the field in the first half, finished with a team shooting mark of 56.9 for the game. Midwestern rallied with a 62.2 percent effort in the second half to finish at 50.7 percent from the floor. The Indians won the rebounding battle 36-31, but committed 23 turnovers to Cameron's 15. The Aggies also held a 24-13 scoring advantage at the free throw line and converted five more three-point attempts than the Indians.

CU will break for semester final exams before resuming action after Christmas. Cameron will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., for the Angelo State Hot Vegas Shootout on Dec. 27-28.

Saturday's contest marked the first back-to-back triple-digit games for Cameron since reaching the century mark in consecutive games to start the 1996-97 season, when the Aggies recorded a 109-42 win over Mid-America Bible before defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor 101-72.