LAWTON, OKLA. – UT Tyler connected on tying shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime period in a 106-105 double overtime loss to Cameron on Thursday night.
 
The Patriots totaled the most points ever in a Lone Star Conference contest for the program in their league opener on Thursday night with 105 despite their second straight overtime loss. Junior Bryce Roberts went for a career-high 27 points and joined four other Patriots in double-digit scoring efforts.
 
Roberts hit the tying shot with seconds remaining on the clock in the first overtime period after forward Alec Zambie sent the game to extra time with a dunk in the waning seconds of regulation. That dunk to tie the game at 79-79 after 40 minutes of play capped off what was yet another stellar second half of basketball for the Patriots.
 
UT Tyler went 8-for-12 (66.6 percent) as a team in that second half from beyond the three-point line to negate a 44-35 halftime deficit. The Patriots hit five of their first six attempts from beyond the arc in the second half to take their first lead since the opening minute of the ballgame.
 
A Roberts layup to make it 60-59 with 11:36 remaining in regulation accomplished that feat, and capped off a 25-15 run to open the second half of play for the Patriots. Guard Terrell Wilson, who finished with 16 points, scored nine of those points over the course of that run.
 
Cameron led by as many as six after the Patriots made it a new ball game with the furious start to the second half, but a Jonathan Jackson three-point make with 1:19 remaining put UT Tyler back ahead for the first time since that 11:36 mark at 77-76.
 
The Aggies quickly responded with a three-point make of their own just 18 seconds later to go back up by two, but the Zambie dunk with 16 seconds on the clock after a pair of squandered possessions for both sides sent the game into the first overtime period tied at 79-79.
 
Cameron once again manufactured a two-possession game with an 86-81 advantage just three minutes into the first overtime period and then maintained that five-point cushion at 91-86 with 48 seconds left.
 
UT Tyler's Nikolas Gustavson nailed a three-pointer with 39 seconds left, Cameron answered with a make of their own with 19 seconds left, but Roberts gave UT Tyler a chance with a quick lay-up to cut the deficit to just 93-91 with nine seconds remaining. Wilson stole the ensuing in bounds passed and got the ball back into the hands of Roberts, who made a second-straight basket to tie the game at 93-93 with three seconds remaining.
 
The second overtime period went down to the wire once again as a key three-point make for the Aggies put them up 104-102 with 40 seconds left on the clock. Gustavson was fouled beyond the third point line with the Patriots trailing by two, but connected on just one of those free throw opportunities.
 
Gustavson redeemed himself just seconds later with a jump shot with 17 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to just 106-105, a score that would hold through the waning seconds of the game.
 
Cameron shot 30 more free throws in the contest and connected on 33 of those opportunities to provide what was largely the difference in the LSC opener for both teams. UT Tyler shot 47.6 percent (40-for-84) from the field and took 23 more shots in the game.
 
The Patriots went 16-for-35 (45.7 percent) from three-point range, the most three-point makes in the Division II era for UT Tyler and just one shy of the UT Tyler men's basketball program record.
 
Gustavson finished with 15 points and led the rebounding effort for the Patriots with six on the night. Graduate student Jonathan Jackson chipped in 14 points and Alex Zambie 12.
 
UT Tyler will stay on the road for a Saturday afternoon Lone Star Conference match-up with Midwestern State at 3 p.m.