Fast start fizzles, Dragons fall 62-45

Despite sustaining a 62-45 blowout at the hands of the East Buchanan Bulldogs, the Cameron Dragons saw a few surprises in their young lineup Monday night.

Sophomore forward Daylin Cruickshank’s offensive outburst in the first quarter gave Cameron their only lead of the night early in the first quarter, but subpar shooting and passing errors eventually allowed East Buchanan to take control soon after and give the Dragons their first loss of the season. 

“I was just excited to be on the basketball court. I hit some shots in the beginning, but I need to work on rebounding,” Cruickshank I think we’re going to do really good. We’ve been working hard in the gym. We’re going to have a pretty good season.”

Cruickshank netted the Dragons’ first points of the season on a close-range bucket, then junior forward T.J. Best hit from behind the arch to give Cameron its only lead of the night. A pair of 3-pointers by Cruickshank and a layup by junior forward Ty Speer, who scored a team-leading 16 points, kept Cameron in contention, but as the Dragons’ mistakes continued piling up the Bulldogs continued adding to their lead.

“You never like a loss, but we did some good things in some stretches,” said first-year Cameron coach Mark Gordon. “We probably didn’t attack the middle enough. We had too many careless turnovers and missed too many threes that’s probably what made the difference in the game.”