ABILENE - The Abilene Christian men's basketball team nearly erased an 11-point deficit late in the second half, but the Cameron Aggies made their free throws down the stretch and held onto a 65-59 victory Saturday night at Moody Coliseum.
The win lifted Cameron's overall and Lone Star Conference records to 7-5 and 3-3, while the Wildcats fell to 5-7 and 1-5. ACU junior
Cornelius Cammock led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds. Senior guards
Eric Lawton and
Elliott Lloyd each had 10.
ACU faced its biggest deficit of the night down 52-41 and 10:43 remaining before going off on a 14-4 run capped by a Cammock layup with 3:03 left. The Wildcats also received five points from Lawton during this stretch.
Aggie Andrew Thomas made two free throws following Cammock's basket to push the lead back to three points at 58-55, but
Dosh Simms quickly cut it back to one on a layup.
Afterwards, the Aggies made four of their next six free throws in extending their lead to five, while the Wildcats missed on three straight chances. Lloyd snapped ACU's two-minute scoring drought with 30 seconds left to make it a three-point game at 62-59, but on the follow-up possession the Wildcats couldn't foul Cameron until after Thomas hit a running layup and subsequent free throw. Thomas finished his night with 11 points.
ACU went on to miss both its shots inside the final 22 seconds and Cameron ran out the clock after grabbing its 33rd rebound with six ticks remaining.
The Wildcats shot 40 percent from the floor (22-55), but struggled from beyond the arc (4-15) on top of missing 4 of 15 free throws.
Cameron's offense shot 46.8 percent (22-47) led by Craig Foster's 18 points and Tim Johnson's 12. Foster also contributed five assists and three steals.
The Aggies also made 15 of 18 free throws in the second half after going 2 of 2 in the first.
ACU led four times during the first half and by as many as five with 9:02 left after Lloyd nailed a 3-pointer. But Aaron Thompson quickly countered with a trey of his own and then Johnson tied the game on a layup.
The Wildcats grabbed their last lead on a Cammock free throw with 4:28 remaining in the first, but made only one field goal following that bucket and entered the break down 27-26.
ACU continues its five-game homestand Tuesday at 7 p.m. vs. Arlington Baptist.
