COMMERCE, Texas — Getting its season off to a fast start at the Lone Star/Heartland Challenge, the Newman men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead against Cameron, but couldn't hold on to the advantage, falling 72-57 Friday evening at Texas A&M-Commerce.
KEY SEQUENCE
The Jets (0-1) trailed the Aggies (1-0) since late in the first half, but stayed close and pulled to within one possession at 47-44 with 15:17 left in the second, but Cameron immediately answered with a layup and picked up the next two baskets to stretch the lead to nine, and built a lead from there that they would hold on to the rest of the way.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Pierre Hayden started the Newman season off with a pair of free throws, and Daniel Green added a layup to give the Jets a 4-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game. The second of a pair of early 3-pointers from Taylor Schieber pushed that lead out to 12-8 at the 14:28 mark of the opening half.
-A trey from Malik Abdur-Rahim followed by a Kevin Bryant lay-in pushed that lead to six at 17-11, and Hayden answered some hot shooting from deep by the Aggies with a triple of his own to make it 20-14 as the half reached the midway point.
-A five-point run by Cameron was cut short by another 3-pointer from Schieber, and a stick-back three-point play out of Green gave the Jets a five-point margin at 26-21 with just over five minutes to go in the half. They would hold on to that lead for another minute, but the Aggies tied things up at 26-26, and went ahead on a 3-pointer at the 3:26 mark.
-The Aggies went up by as much as eight in the closing minutes, but four free throws out of Bryant in the last 26 seconds cut that margin to four at the break.
-A Green layup early in the second half slashed a early Cameron run, and another Schieber 3 made it a 45-41 game. Abdur-Rahim added a traditional three-point play to make it a three-point game at 47-44 as the game neared the 15-minute mark, but the Aggies stretched the lead from there.
-Bryant's fastbreak layup momentarily made it a 53-46 game with 12:45 to play, but a spurt out of Cameron pushed the lead as high as 21 with 4:06 to go. Free throws from Hayden, as well as buckets out of Schieber and Jacob Birnbaum, slashed that back to 15 two minutes later.
LEADERS
Newman
Points: Schieber 14. Rebounds: D. Green 7. Assists: Abdur-Rahim 3. Steals: Schieber 3. Blocks: Birnbaum 2.
Cameron
Points: Trey Hall 24. Rebounds: Delvonte Pierre 9. Assists: JV Long, Bryan Mitchell 3. Steals: Tyus Momah, Long 2. Blocks: Stacey Lambert 1.
NOTES
-The Jets started last season with a thrilling 81-79 win over Cameron. Friday's defeat snapped a two-game winning streak in season openers for Newman.
-Green went a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor to finish his Newman debut with 11 points, and added the team-high seven boards. Hayden netted 12 points to go with two assists and a steal, and Schieber was an efficient 4-for-8 from deep to collect his 14 points.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets wrap up their opening weekend against host Texas A&M-Commerce in a noon matchup Saturday.
