Cameron, ENMU clash in Lone Star semifinals today

FRISCO, Texas—Fans who watched Thursday’s Lone Star Conference quarterfinals matchup between Cameron and top-seeded West Texas might have noticed the lack of a huge celebration by the Aggies after their 93-89 victory over the six-time defending champion Buffs.

The reason was simple according to CU Coach Kevin O’Connor.

“We went into the game expecting to win,” O’Connor said. “Our guys had a great deal of confidence with how they’ve been playing and they went into the game expecting to win.”

The Aggies will go into today’s 2:30 p.m. semifinals against Eastern New Mexico with a similar feeling after the two clubs split games during the regular season but there is little doubt the Aggies are peaking at the right time. Their 9-0 run to start overtime against the No. 6-ranked Buffs showed the confidence that O’Connor and his team brought with them to the Comeria Center where today’s semifinals will be contested. And with the top two seeds already eliminated the title race appears to be wide open entering today’s action.

The Aggies lost a 105-84 decision in Portales, N.M., but CU got a measure of revenge in Lawton with an 84-80 victory.

That game was tied at 80-all before Andre Washington got a follow-shot to drop and then Miles Gurske got a late steal, was fouled and made two free throws to secure the win.

The Greyhounds showed their might in Thursday’s win over Angelo State, pounding the ball inside for 64 points in the paint. The Greyhounds are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in NCAA Division II but in the quarterfinals they only attempted six treys, making three.

Cameron’s defense will need to be at its best to control Greg Johnson, Jahcoree Ealy and Lyron Bennett who led the Greyhounds in the quarterfinals.