February 27, 2008
Tip-in gives Aggie men big victory
COMMERCE, Texas (February 27) – Tonight in an absolute thriller, the Cameron men’s basketball team (6-20, 4-7 LSC-North) needed overtime and a tip-in with just over a second left on the clock to record their sixth victory of the season. The Aggies had traveled to Commerce, Texas, to battle the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions and came away with a nail-biting victory. The final score was 93-91 as the Aggies won it in the third and final frame. Tonight’s contest was Cameron’s final road game of the season.
“Our kids just played really, really well,” Head Coach Maurice Leitzke said. “We played well and Commerce played well. It was a hard fought battle, back and forth. Our kids never gave up all night.”
The Aggies and Lions battled back and forth throughout the game with 7 ties and 5 lead changes. Commerce went into halftime with a slim 35-33 lead, and Cameron ended the second half after taking it 46-44. The overtime period was scored in Cameron’s favor 14-12 thanks to the aforementioned tip-in with 1.5 seconds left on the clock by junior forward Leslie Malone.
The Aggies shot a solid 48.6% shooting percentage in the game which was more than enough to counter Commerce’s 47.3% shooting percentage. Cameron was out-shot 74-70, and was out-rebounded 42-39. The rest of the stats were about even across the board. CU only turned the ball over 12 times and committed just 17 personal fouls.
“This was a big win,” Coach Leitzke said. “We are excited about getting this victory. We have been in so many close ones with a lot of good teams, and it was nice to win one of them.”
Junior forward Leslie Malone had a phenomenal game against the Lions. Besides scoring the winning basket with just over a second left on the clock, Malone led all players with 33 points on 13-21 shooting. He also completed yet another double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds. Additionally, Malone contributed an assist, a block, and a game-high 3 steals in 38 minutes of play.
Junior guard Dave Smith had a great game offensively as he finished with 15 points on 6-11 shooting. He also chipped in a pair of rebounds and a steal in 42 minutes on the floor.
Senior guard Maurice Cubit and sophomore guard Kallan Glasgow were Cameron’s other two players to finish with double-digit scoring numbers. Cubit recorded 11 points on 4-7 shooting while Glasgow chipped in 13 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting. Each player also recorded 3 rebounds and 2 assists, with Glasgow also recording a steal. Cubit played in 29 minutes, Glasgow played in 21 minutes.
Sophomore guard Greg Morgan did an excellent job of spreading the ball around and running Cameron’s offense as he led the team with 6 assists. He also scored 9 points on 3-13 shooting and recorded 5 rebounds in his team-high 43 minutes of play.
Junior forward Chad Allan had a great game under the boards, grabbing a solid 7 rebounds. He also scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting and finished with 2 assists. Allan saw action in 36 minutes against the Lions.
The Aggie men’s basketball team hosts the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Bulldogs this Saturday in the final game of the 2007-2008 season. The Aggies and Bulldogs tip off at 4:00pm in Aggie Gym after a brief ceremony honoring CU’s two senior men’s basketball players, Maurice Cubit and Greg Mercer.
“We’d love to close out the season with another win and finish 5-7 in the Lone Star Conference North Division,” Coach Leitzke said. “We are just really pleased tonight and it was great to come out on the winning side of one of these close ones.”