Slow start too much to overcome for Yoemen

Yoemen coach Ed Glendening knows that it’s very difficult to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders in every non-district contest. 

Tuesday’s road game at Caldwell appeared to be one of those instances, as the Hornets jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first period and went on to hold off the Yoemen late to win, 51-44.

“We just came out flat,” said Glendening.  “We told the kids we were going to come out and work on some things for district.  We ran multiple defenses and all of our stuff and we were down 19 points and we were flat.”

The loss breaks the win streak for Cameron (11-2) at six.  Caldwell (5-9) picks up their first win over Cameron in three tries. 

A big part of the sluggish start came on the offensive end as the Yoemen had 10 turnovers in the first period alone.  Caldwell’s guard Dominique Chambers took advantage with some easy transition buckets, totaling 10 points to put his team up 19-4 after one. 

Keanu McCarter and Dre Booze had back-to-back layups for Cameron to get the lead down to 11 in the first.

Cameron managed to trim the lead down further throughout the remainder of the game, trailing 28-16 at the half, 43-35 at the end of three, and then down seven at the final buzzer.  At one point, Cameron had the lead down to just four points. 

“I do like the way we came back and cut it to four,” said Glendening.  “We were missing a few guys but I liked the way we played besides the first quarter.”

Danny Perez, Dondrick Moore and McCarter each had a three-point bucket in the third and Booze had six points inside to help cut the lead down to its lowest point. 

Cameron finished with 22 turnovers but managed to force 23 takeaways from Cadwell to win the turnover battle. 

Glendening managed to play the entire roster multiple minutes, as 10 players either recorded a point or rebound. 

“We just wanted to get one last look at everybody.  We have to make some decisions on who is going to play where and what.  I just don’t panic at this time of the year.  I think it is important for players and coaches to get a chance.”

Sicory Smith had nine points in the fourth and was the only player in double figures for Cameron with 11.  Booze had eight and Perez’s two three-point shots netted him six. 

Chambers accounted for 47 percent of the Caldwell offense with 24 of the 51 points.