No. 13 Texans bury A&M-Commerce for outright lead in LSC

Camidge pours in 22 to lead five in double figures

Advertisement
Ridell Camidge made six 3-pointers and scored 22 points in a 81-63 Tarleton win over Texas A&M-Commerce Tuesday evening at Wisdom Gym. || Photo courtesy Dr. CHET MARTIN

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (January 10, 2017) — Tarleton State walked out of Wisdom Gym Tuesday night with arguably the best resume in the South Central Region.

The Texans, winners of 11 of their last 12, certainly walked out in sole possession of first place in the rugged Lone Star Conference.

Tarleton (14-2, 6-1) made a season-high 14 3-pointers and had five double-digit scorers while holding Texas A&M-Commerce (12-3, 5-2) to just 33 percent shooting in a 81-63 win, effectively wiping the bad taste out their mouths after being upset at Texas A&M-Kingsville just three days prior.

The No. 13 Texans, led by Ridell Camidge with six 3-pointers and 22 points, outscored A&M-Commerce 24-10 over the final 7:25, pulling away after the Lions had stayed within four points – 57-53 – for almost 33 minutes.

Tarleton went 14-30 from the 3-point arc, season highs for both makes and attempts, led by Camidge going 6-11.

“We were just trying to take what the defense gave us. They were taking away our inside game, so we had to get it done from outside,” said Camidge, who topped 20 points for the fifth time this season. “It felt like a grind the whole game. I wasn’t even looking at the scoreboard, I was just focused, and then I looked up and we had a big lead.”


Advertisement

Don’t blame the junior Division I transfer from being unaware of the growing margin. It did happen suddenly, after all.

The Texans were still up by just eight before a 3-pointer by Chantz Chambers, a layup by Anthony Davis and a 3 by Camidge that made it 75-59 with 1:46 remaining.

“This was a gritty win against a very good basketball team. Sam (Walker) always does a great job coaching his teams, and they have a very talented group, especially those guards,” said Lonn Reisman. “We pulled away some at the end, but I felt like that was a very close basketball game.”

One that has Reisman on the cusp of another milestone. It was the 399th home win for the 29th-year leader of the Texans, who with 627 career wins leads all active college coaches in Texas. The Texans will almost certainly give him home win 400 when they host lowly Arlington Baptist College at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“I’m not counting home wins, or total wins or any of that, that’s for you guys in the media to count,” Reisman said. “We’re just out here trying to find ways to win big games, and we won a big one tonight.”

Behind Camidge, Chantz Chambers was 4-7 from the arc and finished with 14 points along with five assists. Anthony Davis and Josh Hawley, both redshirt freshmen power forwards, scored 11 each and Hawley added nine boards, just missing out on his first career double-double. Davis added six boards and point guard Deshawn Riddick had 10 points and six assists.

Tarleton shot 49 percent and held A&M-Commerce to just 22-66 shooting,  but the Lions still picked up 19 points from Trey Seymore and 15 from Malik Albert, their two Division I guard transfers. Albert was just 2-8 and Seymore 2-7 from 3-point land, however, with Albert also grabbing six boards. Jovan Austin scored 14 for the Lions while going 3-5 from the arc, where the Lions were just 8-31 and were outscored 42-24.

The score was tied three times, but Tarleton never trailed, and it was never tied after the Texans led 38-30 at half.

It was just 30-28 before the Texans soared eight straight to build a 10-point lead. But Tarleton squandered its final possessions of the first half, and TAMUC cut it to 38-30 at the break. Hawley and Chambers each hit 3-pointers to begin the eight-point run, and a dunk by Chambers ended it with 52 seconds left in the half. Camidge then missed a 3, Seymore hit a jumper for the Lions and Chambers missed a 3 just before time expired.

A 3 by Simon Shafack was just what the Lions needed to start the second half, and they closed the gap to 43-40 on a layup in transition by Seymore, who also cut it to 45-42 on a jumper with 14:11 to go. That’s as close as they would get however, as Davis followed it up with a tipin and a 3-pointer, pushing the Texan advantage back to 50-42 with 12:33 left.

The Lions, who concluded a stretch of seven straight road games, return home to face Arlington Baptist on Monday before resuming LSC play against UT-Permian Basin on Thursday, January 19, the same night Tarleton hosts West Texas A&M.


Advertisement

Tarleton and A&M-Commerce are the only teams to defeat Angelo State this season, and both did it last week. With the Texans taking the first head-to-head matchup with the Lions – they meet again on February 16 in Commerce – it gives the Texans the early leg up in the South Central Region.

“They (ASU and TAMUC) are certainly two of the better teams in this region of the country, and any win over them is a good win,” Reisman said. “We’ve played a very tough schedule, even before conference play, and it doesn’t get any easier in the LSC, that’s for sure.”

Camidge is excited to give Reisman his 400th home win this Saturday.

“That’s what I’m here for, is to help the team and Coach Reisman to their next milestones,” said Camidge. “It’s great to play for a coach who has done so many great things in his career, and I can’t wait to be a part of more great things for him and our team.”


Photos courtesy Dr. CHET MARTIN


TheFlashToday.com photos by DAVID SWEARINGEN

It was Eastland night at Wisdom Gym Tuesday, and that meant an appearance by the Eastland Middle School cheerleaders. Check it out:

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.