Camidge scores 24 as hot-shooting Texans topple ENMU

texans-concordia-02 — Ridell Camidge scored 24 points Saturday when Tarleton won at Eastern New Mexico, 92-79. || Courtesy NATE BURAL/Tarleton Athletic Communications

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(December 10, 2016) — Tarleton State shot a blistering 58 percent from the floor and Ridell Camidge poured in 24 points as the No. 15 Texans (8-1, 4-0) rolled to a 92-79 road win at Eastern New Mexico (4-6, 0-4) Saturday night.

Deshawn Riddick added 19 points for the Texans, who had five double-digit scorers in the Lone Star Conference battle. Romond Jenkins scored 15 with nine rebounds while Chantz Chambers and Josh Hawley each netted 12 on a combined 9-11 shooting.

The Texans built a 48-29 lead early in the second half but saw it cut all the way to 74-68 before a run of 11 straight points put it away. Chambers score a layup then a 3-pointer before Camidge, Riddick and Jenkins combined to knock down six straight free throws for a 85-68 lead with 2:04 remaining.

It’s the 10th straight Tarleton win over ENMU, which last beat the Texans on January 16, 2013 in Portales. It’s the fourth straight trip to Greyhound Arena in which Tarleton has scored more than 80 points. This time around the Texans topped 90 for the first time this season.

Tarleton also beat Western New Mexico on its longest conference road trip of the year, and has a five-game win streak and a half-game lead over West Texas A&M at the top of the LSC standings. The Texans a break from conference play and host Southwestern Adventist at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Stephenville.

Camidge came out hot with 12 points in the opening eight minutes to push Tarleton out to a 19-10 lead. He had five points during a 9-0 run that made it 11-5 in the early going. The Texans led by as many as 14 in the first half following a Riddick 3-pointer with 4:21 on the clock, but ENMU closed the gap to 36-27 by halftime.

Tarleton began the second half on a 12-2 run to build its biggest lead. Chambers scored the first five before a Jenkins bucket and a Camidge 3 that answered ENMU’s first points of the half. Jenkins then scored in the paint to conclude the surge with the Texans up 48-29 and 16:50 remaining.

Tarleton was 11-23 from the 3-point line, its third straight game with at least 10 3-pointers. The last time that happened was November 16, 19 and 26 of 2013 against Bloomfield College, Arlington Baptist and Dallas Christian. This time, it happened against LSC foes, two of them away from home, to help the Texans to their best start in conference play since 2013-14.

ENMU matched the most points Tarleton has allowed this season, and at 42.4 percent became the first Texan opponent to shoot better than 35 percent the last five games. Cornel Neal led the Greyhounds with 20 points while Marquise Harris added 13.