Cameron upsets No. 5 Drury

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The Cameron men’s basketball team defeated fifth-ranked Drury in a 72-70 victory at the Drury Classic Friday afternoon. The Panthers jumped 11 spots to fifth place in the NABC Coaches Poll released on Tuesday and were 3-0 to start their season until the Aggies upset the host team.

“This was a really good win for us tonight over a nationally ranked team on the road in a tough environment,” said head coach Nate Gamet. “Defensively, we weren’t as bad as the second half showed with 48 points. They got 16 free throws, and we got the tough end of some and-one shots by them, but we had enough tonight to get the win.”

Both sides traded the lead twice early in the game. With Drury up 7-6, Cameron went on a seven point run to grab the advantage, and the Aggies would pull ahead 30-14 for their largest lead of 16 points. Cameron held the 34-22 edge at the half after shooting 43% (13-30) from the field with four made three-pointers (40%), while the Panthers shot 29% (7-24) on the floor and went 2-10 (20%) behind the arc.

The Aggies led for most of the first half to carry a 12 point advantage into the locker room, but the Panthers would improve their shooting to 50% (14-28) from the field with four treys to hold a three point lead over the Aggies in the middle of the second. Cameron would secure the lead once more in the final minutes until the game tied at 70, but with three seconds remaining, a good jump shot from JV Long gave CU the winning edge.

Cameron Lee led CU’s offense with 15 points on the game with Jamaal Brantley and Christian Crockett behind him with 12 points each. Crockett and Alexsandar Malinic also grabbed eight boards for the Ags.

Cameron edged the Panthers in rebounds (41-36) and had 11 turnovers compared to Drury’s 16. The Aggies scored 13 points off of Panther turnovers and 33 points came from the CU bench.

The Panthers were led by Tevin Foster and Kameron Bundy who each netted 21 points on the game.

From the field, CU finished 39.7% (23-58) and Drury had 40.4% (21-52) on the floor.

Gamet said, “It’s a great win for the program, and we’ll enjoy it tonight, but we’ve got another tough one on Saturday.”

Cameron will return to the court at 1 p.m. tomorrow to face Truman State for the Aggies’ first meeting with the Bulldogs.