Lamar Cruises Past Louisiana College
Lamar 105, Louisiana College 72
BEAUMONT, Texas ? Brandon McThay led six players in double figures and dished out a game-high six assists as Lamar shook off a rusty opening five minutes and eased to a 105-72 win over Louisiana College in the season opener for both teams at the Montagne Center on Saturday.
Along with McThay, Kenny Dawkins made three 3-pointers on his way to a solid 15-point, five-assist, three-steal performance. Freshman Anthony Miles missed his first three field goal attempts before connecting on five of his next seven over the course of the game to finish with14 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and tallied three assists in 22 minutes for his college debut.
Lamar (1-0) shot 49 percent from the floor and forced 29 turnovers off 17 steals, which were turned into 43 points. Lamar also scored almost half its points in the paint ? 52.
With the Cardinals holding a steady seven point lead with 13 minutes into the game, Lamar scored 10-straight points, with a thunderous fast-break dunk by Skyler Williams that was followed by a steal by Williams and a 3-pointer from Dawkins in the middle of the run. Lamar closed the half on a 28-9 run over the final 6:25 for a 55-29 lead at the break.
From there the Cardinals kept the pressure on and extended their edge to as many as 40, when a Jay Brown fast-break dunk made it 90-50 with 7:09 to play. Brown finished with a career-high 16 points, eight boards and two steals in just 19 minutes.
Lamar had 19 fast break points and showed its athleticism with five dunks. LU also held a decisive edge on the glass with a 43-28 margin.
Louisiana College (0-1) was led by Josh Johnson’s 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
The win extended Lamar’s homecourt winning streak to 14 games dating back to last season.
The Cardinals will hit the road on Tuesday for a contest against long-time rival Louisiana-Lafayette. Tip-off at the Cajundome is set for 7:05 p.m. and the can will be broadcast on KLVI 560-AM.
McNeese State 62, Tulane 68
NEW ORLEANS, La. ? The McNeese Cowboy basketball team dropped a hard fought season opener 68-62 to Conference USA opponent Tulane at Fogelman Arena in front of 1,562 fans.
The Cowboys led by as many as three points but ultimately fell to the Green Wave in a game that had 8 ties and 6 lead changes.
The Green Wave combination of Kris Richard and Kevin Sims was too much for the Cowboys to handle as the pair shot for 17 points apiece and combined for 13 rebounds.
“I'm excited about winning our opener against McNeese,” said Green Wave head coach Dave Dickerson, “they fought hard for 40 minutes and they confused us.”
John Pichon had a double-double on the night but it was not enough to negate the Cowboy's poor free throw shooting. As a team, McNeese shot only 52% from the free throw line, going 13-25.
“We were 13-25 and 8-17 at half time. Thats something that can and will be corrected,” said McNeese head coach Dave Simmons. “We said this going in that we have to rebound better and we did, but the most glaring thing is the free throws.”
Coach Simmons did see his rebounding improve, edging out Tulane 43-33 in that category. McNeese Forward P.J. Alawoya accounted for 11 of the team's total while Pichon had 10.
“McNeese is probably one of the most athletic teams we're going to play all year,” said Dickerson “If I had to have one criticism on my team tonight it would be that we had to many unforced turnovers and they out rebounded us by 10 on our home court.”
The turnovers were ugly for both teams. Tulane gave up the ball 17 times while McNeese threw it away 21 times.
After being down 19-21 at half, Diego Kaplan came off the bench for the Cowboys and scored on four of eight three point attempts. Kaplan would finish the game with 14 total points.
Coach Simmons was overall pleased with his teams effort despite the loss, “The thing is they did take a great step. I thought some guys played hard, P.J. Alawoya had 11 boards, Pichon had a double-double Diego got in some shots and Stephan Martin played well. But it seemed like when we needed a big rebound we didn't get it.”
Kleon Penn, who was expected to be a big factor in the game, fell short of expectations. The 6-11 senior only managed 4 rebounds and four points during 22 minutes of play.
“Obviously we've got to get Kleon going, He needed to be a factor in this game and he could have been,” said Simmons.
“We'll get better, I told the guys not to get their heads down. This is one game and we closed some gaps as far as maturing as a basketball team.”
The Cowboys hit the road next week with games against the University of Louisiana Monroe on Thursday and Texas Christian University on Saturday.
Northwestern State 65, Indiana 83
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ? Indiana's debut under new coach Tom Crean was a happy one Saturday night as the Hoosiers dumped Northwestern State's Demons 83-65 in the college basketball opener for both teams.
Devin Dumas scored 21 and Verdell Jones added 18, including 10 of 13 aim on free throws, to pace the Hoosiers. Indiana used an 11-2 burst midway through the second half to turn a 49-40 advantage into a 60-42 lead with 10 minutes to go and Northwestern never threatened again.
Junior guard Damon Jones pumped in 17, matching his career high, for the Demons, who got a career-best 12 points by senior forward Kalem Porterie.
Northwestern was hampered by 30 turnovers and 32 percent shooting aim, along with 15 of 28 shooting on free throws. The Demons were hit for 35 personal fouls, having two players foul out, as Indiana shot 41 free throws and outscored NSU 28-15 at the free throw line.
NSU did beat IU on the boards, 52-41, with C.J. Clark snagging 8 for the Demons. Northwestern used 15 players, 14 who played at least five minutes.
The Demons started fast, running to a 12-5 advantage in the first four minutes. Their last lead was 16-13 when Keithan Hancock made a steal and layup, but the Hoosiers moved up 38-29 at halftime.
Northwestern opens its home schedule Tuesday night in Prather Coliseum against East Texas Baptist in a 7:45 game following a women's matchup at 5:45 between the Lady Demons and Southern's Lady Jaguars. Tickets for the twinbill are just $3 with 300 T-shirts given away to fans.
Fans who bring a toy to donate to local foster children receive free hot dogs and soft drinks or free nachos and soft drinks, and half price on subsequent concessions orders in a toy drive staged by the NSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
UT Arlington 84, Hardin Simmons 64
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington men’s basketball team opened its season with an 84-64 victory over Hardin-Simmons on Saturday night in front of 898 fans at Texas Hall. The Mavericks had five players score in double figures - led by junior guard Brandon Long’s 18 - while using a 57 percent shooting effort in the second half to win their third straight season-opener, which is a new school record.
The Mavs (1-0) jumped out to a 20-point lead, 31-11, at the 8:51 mark in the first half after an 11-0 run during a five minute span which gave UT Arlington its largest lead in the first half.
“It was the first real game in front of fans for a lot of guys,” third-year UT Arlington head coach Scott Cross said. “We did some good things and some bad things, like every game. In general we did a good job executing.”
Hardin-Simmons then cut the Mavs’ lead to seven points while holding UT Arlington scoreless over five minutes of play to trail 33-27 with 4:06 until halftime.
A slam dunk by junior Marquez Haynes ended the scoring drought for the Mavericks, as UT Arlington closed the first half on a 9-2 run to grab a 42-29 lead going into the locker rooms at halftime.
Long lead all players at the break with nine points, while Haynes and junior forward Tommy Moffitt added eight points in the first half.
UT Arlington quickly stretched its lead to 22 points (57-35) early in the second half as Long and senior post Anthony Vereen scored back-to-back buckets in the paint before Vereen completed an old-fashioned three-point play by knocking down a free throw.
Vereen, the 2008 Southland Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, finished with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor and led all players shooting 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
“It is nice knowing we have so many shooters around me,” Vereen said. “When they throw the ball inside to me I try to be a strong inside presence. I also know that if they double (team) I have so many shooters around me I can pass to any one of them.”
The Mavericks shot 52 percent (31-for-60) from the field, including 6-of-19 from long range. Long led the Mavs with three 3-pointers and a game-high 18 points.
After suffering a season-ending injury last season in only the ninth game of the season, Long was anxious to make his 2008-09 season debut.
“I was just really excited to get back out there with the team,” Long said. “I just want to make sure I do my part on the defensive end first, the scoring will come because we have such a good offensive team.”
Long was one of six Mavs with a steal and he also finished with four rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
Haynes made his UT Arlington debut scoring 10 points with six rebounds and two steals. Haynes, a junior, transferred to UT Arlington from Boston College last season and did not play during the Mavericks run to the NCAA Tournament.
Junior-college transfer J.D. Davis made his presence felt with two of the Mavs’ four dunks, while tallying 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting in his first game in a Mavericks uniform.
UT Arlington will remain at home on Tuesday, Nov. 18, taking on Texas Wesleyan for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Texas Hall.