SPRINGFIELD, MO. – The East Central University men's basketball team wrapped up the Doubletree Houlihans Thanksgiving Classic with a nail-biting 96-95 overtime victory over Cameron at the O'Reilly Event Center on the campus of Drury University.

The Tigers (5-2, 2-0 GAC) were led by senior Henry Pwono, who tallied 33 points  and 13 rebounds, while junior Stirling Thomas added 34 points, three points and three assists.  Both players combined efforts for the weekend landed them on the All-Tournament Team.

"I give our guys credit on making the plays at the end of regulation and overtime," said head coach Ja Havens.  "We were far from perfect, but the team came through when it was time to win the game against a very good Cameron team."

The opening half was a back-and-forth battle from start to finish, with the Aggies holding a slight lead at the end of the stanza.  The teams battled through eight lead changes and four tie scores in the first 20 minutes of play, with Cameron using a 9-2 run, from 8:25 to 6:25, to take the final advantage. 

The teams then traded points for the next three minutes before the Aggies hit their last shot of the half with 3:04 left to play.  That is when the Tigers defense kicked it up a notch and went on an 8-0 run in the final three minutes to cut the deficit to 48-52 at the intermission.

The Tigers came out strong in the second half, pulling within one (54-55) in the first minute.  The game remained close for the next nine munities before the Aggies used a small 4-0 run to take a small advantage.  Cameron held on to the small lead for most of the half and pulled away in the final three minutes to an eight-point advantage.
 
However, in the last 46 seconds the Tigers used an 8-1 run to force extra time.  The tie came after the Aggies turned over the ball and committed a foul on junior Deron Hill with four seconds left.  Hill hit both his free throws to knot the game at 86.

ECU hit the first shot of overtime, with senior Brandon Lucas nailing a three from the corner.  Cameron made their first shot as well, but it was a two-pointer setting up a team to earn a one-point win.  The teams traded points until half the extra stanza was complete.  Cameron then used a 4-0 run to take a 92-95 lead with 1:21 left.

That is when the Tigers really came on strong.  Thomas hit a jumper from just outside the lane with 58 seconds left.  The Aggies missed a layup on their next possession and the rebound went to Hill.  Thomas again went down and hit a shot with 11 seconds left to give ECU the 96-95 lead.  Cameron then missed a layup, got the offensive rebound and took a time out.

After the timeout, with four seconds left, the Aggies inbounded the ball but were then called for a traveling violation with 1.4 left on the clock to give the Tigers the victory.

ECU will now return home for the opening Great American Conference game of the 2014-15 season when Southwestern Oklahoma State comes to the Kerr Activities Center for a Thursday, Dec. 4 game at 7:30 p.m.