LAWTON, Oklahoma – The #11 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M scored just 18 points in the first half but battled back to claim a wild Lone Star Conference victory on Saturday afternoon in Lawton, Oklahoma as WT topped the Cameron Aggies, 100-98 in four overtimes to tie the longest game in WTAMU history. The Buffs improve to 16-2 (4-1 LSC) on the season while the Aggies fall to 10-5 (3-2 LSC) on the season.
 
Saturday's contest ties the longest game in Buffalo Basketball history with a 1954 matchup with Beloit College (now NCAA Division III) as then West Texas State fell to the Buccaneers, 69-71 in Beloit, Wisconsin.
 
The Aggies started the game on a 7-3 run before Ryan Quaid responded with a bucket followed by misses on both ends but a WT foul allowed Elish Benjamin hit both at the charity stripe at 9-5, the Buffs missed from deep as Benjamin knocked down a jumper before Skyler O'Laughlin hit one-of-two at the line heading into a media timeout with 11:38 left and Cameron leading 11-6.
 
The teams continued to struggle from the floor after the break as they traded misses on both ends before JV Long added to the Cameron lead with a long ball from the wing followed by a WT miss from deep but Jordan Evans stopped the scoring drought with an offensive board and bucket at 14-8 heading into a media timeout with 7:22 left.
 
The Buffs were called for a goaltend after the timeout followed by a Stacey Lambert bucket before Evans answered with a long ball from the top of the key at 18-11, a Cameron miss led to a Carl White layup followed by a Tyus Momoh bucket and misses on both ends before another Evans bucket at 20-15 heading into the under-eight media timeout with 3:24 left in the half.
 
Trey Hall hit two freebies after the break followed by David Chavlovich hitting two at the line to pass Reggie Ramey (1973-76 | 1,440) for 2^nd place on WT's all-time scoring list to cut the lead to 22-17, Hall responded with two more at the stripe followed by a WT turnover and a Delvonte Pierre baseline layup before a CU foul with four seconds left as Jerrod Walton hit one-of-two before Pierre hit a long ball at the buzzer with Cameron leading 29-18.
 
WT went 6-of-32 (18.8%) from the floor in the first half including 1-of-16 (6.3%) from long range and 5-of-8 (62.5%) from the charity stripe with 20 rebounds (five offensive, 15 defensive), five assists, four turnovers, no blocks and three steals. Evans went 3-of-7 from the floor and 1-of-5 from deep to lead the Buffs at the break with seven points followed by Walton with four while Evans and Quaid grabbed four rebounds each.
 
Cameron was led at the break by Lambert and Hall with six points each as they combined to go 3-of-7 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe while Lambert led all players with seven rebounds at the break. The Aggies went 9-of-25 (36%) from the floor including 3-of-8 (37.5%) from deep and 8-of-9 (88.9%) from the line to go along with 24 rebounds (two offensive, 22 defensive), six assists, seven turnovers, one block and two steals.
 
The teams traded misses to start the second half before Chavlovich connected on his first bucket of the afternoon followed by a CU miss as Evans finished under the bucket at 29-24, White stole the ball away as Tommy Gove hit a 12-foot jumper followed by an Aggie turnover as Quaid found Chavlovich on the wing for a long ball at 29-27. Long responded with a bucket followed by an Eric Golightly Jr. layup and CU foul heading into a media timeout with 15 minutes left in the game.
 
Long responded again with another easy layup after the break followed by a long ball from the corner by White at 33-32, the teams traded misses again followed by another Long bucket before Golightly Jr. responded with a bucket followed by the teams traded misses before a Buffalo turnover that led to a fast break layup by Long with a WT foul heading into a media timeout with 11:34 left and CU leading 37-34. Long finished off the three-point play after the break followed by a WT miss under the bucket as the Aggies turned it into a Pierre bucket at 40-34.
 
Chavlovich made a wild shot off of the glass followed by dueling long balls as Evans hit from deep again, Pierre answered with an easy layup followed by two Evans free throws at 45-41. The teams traded turnovers before a Chavlovich layup cut the lead to two but Cameron responded with a Benjamin bucket at 47-43 heading into a media timeout with 7:18 left. Pierre added to his point total with a bucket on an inbound play followed by a WT miss and a Nichols bucket at 51-43, the teams traded misses before Golightly Jr. hit two free throws followed by a Cameron miss and a Walton bucket before a Gove steal and CU foul heading into the final media timeout of the game with the Aggies leading 51-47 with 3:26 left.
 
Quaid hit two at the charity stripe followed by misses on both ends before Pierre connected on a bucket at 53-49, Chavlovich responded with a floater in the lane followed by a Cameron turnover as Walton tipped in a Buffalo miss to tie the game at 53-53. A Chavlovich steal led to a Golightly Jr. bucket for WT's first lead of the game heading into a timeout with a minute left, the Aggies missed after the break as Quaid grabbed a big rebound followed by a WT miss from deep as Pierre drove the lane and finished with the foul to tie the game at 55-55. Pierre gave Cameron the lead at the line with 19 seconds left followed by a Cameron foul with 10.2 second left and Quaid heading to the line heading into a timeout, Quaid knocked down one-of-two to tie the game as the Aggies raced down the court but couldn't connect as the teams headed into overtime tied at 56-56.
 
Quaid started the scoring for the Buffs in the overtime period as the sophomore connected on a jumper in the lane before CU responded with a Tyler Williams long ball, Quaid rejected a Cameron attempt that led to a big offensive board by Gove but a WT foul sent the Aggies to the charity stripe with 2:03 left. Lambert missed the front end as Walton grabbed the rebound to lead to a Cameron foul as Walton hit one-of-two at 59-59 as the Aggies missed on their end to force a WT timeout with 1:16 left. Chavlovich drew a foul after the break as the junior hit both at the line but Momoh responded with a bucket heading into a timeout with 46 seconds left tied at 61-61.
 
The Buffs turned the ball over after the timeout as the Aggies turned it into a fast break layup but the Buffs responded immediately with a Quaid layup with just under 20 seconds left to force the second overtime. White started off the second free period with a bucket followed by two Cameron free throws before a WT turnover and foul but Momoh missed both at the line to keep the score at 65-65 with 3:22 left, a WT turnover led to a Momoh layup before Quaid grabbed a big offensive board with a CU foul as the sophomore hit one-of-two at 66-67. The Aggies added to their lead with a Lambert board-and-score followed by a WT miss from deep that led to a Pierre dunk to force a WT timeout with 2:05 left and CU leading 71-66.
 
Golightly Jr. hit two at the charity stripe after the break followed by a WT foul as Williams hit one-of-two at the line but Chavlovich immediately changed the momentum with a long ball to cut the lead to 72-71, the Aggies missed from deep followed by a White layup as the Buffs took the lead again headed into a WT timeout with 31 second left and WT leading 73-72. Quaid and White rejected a pair of Cameron attempts as White came down with the ball with a CU foul as the sophomore hit both at the line but Momoh hit a buzzer beating shot to send the teams into the third overtime tied at 75-75.
 
Quaid gave the Buffs an early lead in the third overtime with an old-fashioned three-point play followed by misses on both ends before a big Quaid board that led to the sophomore hitting both at 80-75, the Aggies responded with a Lambert layup followed by a CU foul as Walton hit both at the line. Momoh responded with a bucket followed by misses on both ends before Chavlovich hit a long three to force a WT timeout with 1:30 left and WT leading 84-79.
 
Cameron responded with a Williams long ball heading into a timeout followed by a WT miss after the break but White continued his big afternoon with a rejection to force a timeout with 32 seconds left and WT leading 84-82. Quaid grabbed a big defensive board as Chavlovich found Golightly Jr. for a fast break slam followed by a WT foul as Momoh hit one-of-two, the Buffs missed two free throws followed by a Cameron long ball to send the teams into the fourth overtime tied.
 
The fourth overtime started off with Chavlovich finding Golightly Jr. for a layup followed by a Cameron jumper but Chavlovich responded with a long ball at 91-88, Cameron tipped in a missed attempt but the Buffs answered again with a Golightly Jr. long ball with 4:02 left. Long finished around the rim for a layup followed by a WT miss and a Momoh bucket to tie the game at 94-94, Walton connected on a layup heading into a timeout followed by a Cameron bucket before a CU foul behind the arc as Chavlovich hit three at the charity stripe to run the WT lead to 99-96. Momoh hit two freebies to cut into the lead but another Cameron foul would put the game away as Chavlovich hit one-of-two followed by a CU miss at the buzzer as the Buffs took the wild 100-98 win.
 
The Buffs went 32-of-91 (35.2%) from the field in the game including 8-of-39 (20.5%) from deep and 28-of-39 (71.8%) from the charity stripe with 56 rebounds (12 offensive, 44 defensive), 16 assist, 13 turnovers, six blocks an seven steals. Chavlovich went 8-of-30 from the floor to lead the Buff with 28 points followed by Golightly Jr. (17), Quaid (15), Evans (14), Walton (12) and White (11) in double-figures while Quaid grabbed 15 rebounds for a double-double.
 
Cameron was led offensively by Momoh who went 7-of-14 from the field including 2-of-4 from deep to score a team-high 19 points followed by Long (18), Pierre (18), Williams (16) and Lambert (10) in double-figures while Lambert grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double. The Aggies went 37-of-93 (39.8%) from the field including 8-of-21 (38.1%) from deep and 16-of-22 (72.7%) from the line to go along with 68 rebounds (15 offensive, 53 defensive), 15 assists, 17 turnovers, four blocks and six steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs return to the friendly confines of the First United Bank Center on Thursday night as they put their undefeated home record on the line against the #7 Rams of Angelo State with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. in Canyon. The Rams (10-2, 2-2 LSC) started the season 10-0 before falling to #9 Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Commerce this weekend in San Angelo.