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Jan. 10, 2008

Box Score

LAWTON, Okla. - Senior Robert Lee connected on 9-of-14 field goal attempts to produce a game-high 20 points and lead the West Texas A&M men's basketball team to an 82-66 victory over Cameron in Lone Star Conference crossover action at CU's Aggie Gym on Thursday night. While the win, WTAMU improved its overall record to 9-5 on the season while the Aggies fell to 2-11.

"We played a lot better defense tonight," said head coach WT Rick Cooper. "We did not play very well in the first five minutes our last game or really in any of the important times of that basketball game. We wanted to come out and improve on that. We play really hard tonight and I'm proud of that."

The Buffs got off to a terrific start in the contest, allowing them to wrestle control of the game away from the Aggies and their home crowd. After WT surrendered the first basket of the night, the Buffs reeled off 15 straight points to hold a 15-2 advantage after a lay-up by Lee at the 15:19 mark

The Aggies fought back, however, but Buffs remained strong and took a 10-point advantage into the intermission as they were led by senior forward Chris Hinz, who converted 5-of-6 first half shots for a team-leading 12 points. During the period, WT was effective from the field, converting 17-of-36 field goal opportunities for a 47.2 shooting percentage, while the Aggies sank 13-of-30 shots (43.3%). The deciding factor which allowed the Buffs to hold the advantage through the first 20 minutes was WT's ability to control the boards, outrebounding Cameron by a 21-15 margin.

Hinz finished the game with 16 points for the game, while leading the Buffs in rebounding with eight.

The advantage on the boards continued during the second half as the Buffs led in the rebounding column 37-27, leading to them holding a 23-10 advantage in second half chance points.

After halftime, the Buffs remained consistent from the floor, making 57.7 percent of their shots, 15-of-26, with Lee leading the way 12 points during the period. Junior Keon Grant tallied all 10 of his points following intermission, while junior point guard Kyle Shields added 10 of his 14 points in the game's final 20 minutes.

For Lee, the 20-point outburst was his best of the season since a career-high 28-point performance in the Buffs' season opening win over Colorado-Colorado Springs on Nov. 16.

The road gets tougher for the Buffs on Saturday as they face No. 13 Southwestern Oklahoma State during the team's final Lone Star Conference crossover affair of the season. The game is schedule for an 8 p.m. tip-off from SWOSU's Rankin Williams Field House in Weatherford, Okla.