Bad 3rd quarter costs Yoe in loss to Giddings

For a majority of Tuesday’s home game with Giddings, Cameron was right in the thick of things. In the first, second and fourth quarters, the Yoemen played an even game with the Buffaloes, but it was the third that proved to be the big difference in this one as Giddings had a 24-9 scoring advantage, and that was essentially the difference in a 71-58 loss.

“They came out to start the half on an 11-0 run and we ended up losing by 13,” said Yoe coach Nick Burns. “It was that 3 minutes into the third quarter that we could not recover from. You take that way, we play them even the rest of the game. We just came out to such a sloppy start that second half. They didn’t change anything. We just turned the ball over and tried to press things too much.”

The size advantage favored the Buffaloes down low, and it showed with a 22-6 advantage in offensive rebounds and a 65-45 shot advantage.

“We have to rebound better,” said Burns. “In the Salado tournament our rebounding was not very good. In the pregame warmup tonight we added a rebound drill to try and get us into that mentality to rebound right before the game starts. We are a poor rebounding team and we have to fix it.”

Despite only getting off 10 shots in the first, Cameron made the most of what was there by converting on six of those attempts. A total of five different players contributed, including sophomore guard Kobe Young, which stole a ball near mid-court and then setup Levi May on the other end for a transition layup to tie the game up at 8 late in the first period.

Cameron trailed 18-13 after one but cut that down to just 31-29 at the break. LaRondre Booze finished with 14 first half points and continued that production the rest of the way with 25 points on the night.

“Booze played great tonight,” Burns said. “At the end he forced a few too many three point-shots. He was a great inside presence. His mid 10 to 12 foot jumper is there all night. I think if he can find himself in the middle of the paint, that’s his gravy.”

The key for Cameron moving forward will be trying to get that right mix on the floor that can play solid defense while generating points on the other end of the court.

“We have a lot of great defenders,” said Burns. “An issue we are finding is that we will put in one group that can defend real well but they can’t score. We also have a lot of great scorers that can’t defend well, so we have to find that balance.”

Levi May came in at double figures with 10 points, while Dondrick Moore had 8 and Keanu McCarter finished with 7.

Salado Tournaments Results

Cameron opened play on Thursday by dropping a game to Flour Bluff (63-47) before rebounding with a win over CTCS (63-47). Day two ended with similar results as Cameron took down Caldwell (61-55) before falling to Salado (55-42). Despite the 2-2 record, Cameron was positioned to play Lampasas in the third place game, and it went down to the wire with a 56-50 loss in overtime.

Top 25 Rankings

1. Jarrell; 2. Bowie; 3. Brock; 4. Schulenburg; 5. Ponder; 6. East Chambers; 7. Nocona; 8. Peaster; 9. Cole; 10. Madison; 11. La Marque; 12. Wall; 13. Van Vleck; 14. Mt. Vernon; 15. Teage; 16. Pollok Central; 17. Commerce; 18. Van Alstyne; 19. Kountze; 20. Central Heights; 21. Canadian; 22. Edgewood; 23. Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill; 24. Santa Rosa; 25. Crane