Forest Scores Career-High 28 Off Bench to Lift Lions Past Florida Atlantic, 90-77
Southeastern Louisiana 90, Florida Atlantic 77
HAMMOND, La. - Southeastern Louisiana's Damon Forest came off the bench to score a career-high 28 points and the Lions built a 25-point lead before holding off Florida Atlantic, 90-77, Monday night at the University Center.
Trent Hutchin added 17 points and David Ndoumba 11 as Southeastern (2-0) shot 58 percent (18-for-31) and built a 49-24 lead in the first half. Florida Atlantic, which was led by freshman Raymond Taylor's 25 points, evened its record at 1-1.
Forest, who finished 9-for-13 from the floor and 4-for-5 behind the 3-point line, scored 12 points in the first half as Southeastern led 51-27 at the break. After a bucket by Sanchez Hughley cut the FAU deficit to 31-19, Southeastern went on a 14-3 run capped by a free throw by Gary Dixon that gave the Lions a 45-22 advantage with 1:56 remaining.
The Owls chipped away at the lead in the second half behind the play of Taylor, the Owls' 5-foot-6 point guard, and Shavar Richardson. A 3-pointer by Richardson, who scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half, closed the FAU deficit to 67-56 with 8:59 to play, but Southeastern would push the lead to 74-57 on a pair of free throws by Jason Marks.
Brandon Fortenberry, who scored 10 points for Southeastern after missing the team's season opener last Friday, drained a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down for a 78-61 lead and the Lions made 12 free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
Marks added 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Southeastern, which shot 47 percent for the game and sank 10 3-pointers for the second consecutive contest. Deshawn Patterson pulled down eight rebounds and had two steals for Southeastern, which held Florida Atlantic to 27 percent from the floor in the first half and 35 percent (25-for-72) for the game.
Southeastern returns to action on Thursday when it visits Mississippi State in a 7 p.m. contest at Humphrey Coliseum.
Lamar 77, UTPA 72
BEAUMONT, Texas - Kendrick Harris scored a season-high 24 points to lead Lamar to a 77-72 win over Texas-Pan American at the Montagne Center Monday night.
Harris, a junior transfer from Los Angeles Southwest Junior College, was 9-for-15 from the floor, with a pair of 3-pointers while making all four free throw attempts. Backcourt mate Anthony Miles finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals to help Lamar improve to 2-0 for the second-consecutive season.
Lawrence Nwevo added 12 points and five rebounds.
The Cardinals shot 47 percent from the floor and were solid once again at the charity stripe, converting 20-of-25 chances.
UTPA (0-2) trailed by as many as 15 with 9:44 to play but chipped away and got to within one at 73-72 on a Nick Weiermiller trey with 19 seconds left. But the Cardinals made their final four freebies and Weiermiller lost the ball out of bounds with 10 tics remaining to secure the final outcome.
Jared Maree led the Broncs with 19 points and nine rebounds. UTPA shot 47 percent and were 8-for-20 from outside.
Lamar held a 37-29 rebounding advantage and converted 16 offensive boards into 18 second-chance points.
The Cards closed the first half on a 9-3 run to go into the locker room with a 37-28 lead.
Lamar will now go on the road for a four-game swing starting Thursday at Middle Tennessee. Lamar will play at Texas Tech on Saturday night before ending the stretch at Ohio and Marshall next Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
Sam Houston State 91, Texas College 54
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Junior center Gilberto Clavell scored 19 points and senior guard Corey Allmond added 13 to lead Sam Houston State to a 91-54 non-conference men's basketball victory over Texas College Monday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Dwayne Johnson led Texas (3-2) with 11 points. Ashton Mitchell added 12 points and five assists for Sam Houston (2-0).
The Bearkats led from wire-to-wire, building a 47-26 halftime margin and leading by as many as 45 points in the second half.
Sam Houston hit 56.3 percent from the field (38-of-65) and out-rebounded the Steers 40-26.
The Bearkats travel to Lexington, Ky. to play the Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of the Cancun Classic Thursday night.
Minnesota 82, Stephen F. Austin 42
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Minnesota outscored Stephen F. Austin, 56-23, in the second period Monday to take an 82-42 in Williams Arena in the Lumberjacks' season opener. The loss breaks a four-year run of season-opening wins for SFA.
The Lumberjacks went to halftime down just seven points, but the Gophers opened the second period with a 16-0 run and shot 61 percent after the break to put the game out of reach.
Minnesota forced the Lumberjacks into 10 second-half turnovers and got 16 points off the mistakes. For the game, the Gophers finished with a 26-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Lawrence Westbrook and Devoe Joseph scored 15 points each to lead all players, and Ralph Sampson III pulled down 11 rebounds to pace a 34-26 advantage on the boards for Minnesota.
Senior guard Eddie Williams scored 12 points to finish as the only Lumberjack in double digits. Senior Walt Harris and junior Orren Tims added seven points apiece.
Despite scoring just three points over the final nine minutes of the second half, the Lumberjacks were down only seven (26-19) at halftime. SFA forced 11 Gopher turnovers in the first period against just nine of its own and held a 16-15 edge in rebounding at the break.
The Lumberjacks led by as many as five points and held a 16-15 lead with nine minutes to play. But the long drought to end the first period led to a 27-3 Minnesota run that covered the end of the first half and the start of the second.
For the game, SFA shot 30.6 percent and was 3-of-14 from behind the 3-point arc. Williams and sophomore center Jereal Scott pulled down five rebounds apiece to lead the 'Jacks. Senior Eric Bell finished with five of SFA's nine assists.
The Lumberjacks will be back in action on Nov. 21, when they host Jackson State in the opening contest of a three-game home stand. The game is set to tip at 7 p.m. from Johnson Coliseum.
Tennessee Tech 71, Central Arkansas 67
CONWAY, Ark. - Central Arkansas got close but could never grab a lead Monday night, dropping a 71-67 decision to Tennessee Tech before a crowd of 1,071 at the Farris Center.
Central Arkansas (1-1) trailed by nine points early in the game but closed the deficit to three, 36-33, at halftime. The biggest lead in the second half was seven points at the 8-minute mark after Tech's Jud Dillard completed a 3-point play. The Bears fought back and got within two several times, including 65-63 after a 3-pointer from senior forward Mitch Rueter with 2:50 remaining.
Frank Davis answered with a 3-pointer for the Golden Eagles (1-1) to push the lead back to 68-63 with 2:26 on the clock. UCA senior guard Mike Pouncy cut the lead back to two at 69-67 with a leaning jumper with just 26 seconds to play. Kevin Murphy hit one of two at the line for Tech with 19 seconds left. Central Arkansas' Jared Rehmel misfired on a 3-point attempt with nine seconds remaining and Tech rebounded.
Alfred Jones was fouled and made 1-of-2 at the line for a 71-67 lead with seven seconds left that sealed it. Central Arkansas missed another 3-point attempt in the final seconds and finished 3-of-19 from beyond the arc.
"My gut feeling was the two teams were pretty evenly matched," UCA coach Rand Chappell said. "You just never know this early in the year which way it's going to go. We're not down on our guys at all. I thought they gave us a really good effort. They showed good enthusiasm, they tried to follow instructions. Not sure we always did, as far as getting everything done the right way. But there's a mental attempt to do things the way they should be done.
"I think if we stay with that, then it will get better as the year goes on and we'll start to win those kinds of games."
The Bears shot just 37.7 percent from the field, including 15.8 percent from 3-point range. They stayed close with 38 trips to the free-throw line, hitting 24. Central Arkansas shot 26 free throws in the first half alone, compared to 5 for Tech. The Golden Eagles shot 47.4 percent overall and outrebounded the Bears 39-35.
"Like I told them, you can point out a million little things," Chappell said, "including coming out of the gate a little slow, missing free throws early on. But we battled back at the line, shooting 63 percent.
We kind of put ourselves in a hole and were never able to get over the top. I guess the trademark of a good basketball team is you get stops down the stretch when you really need them, and for the most part, we came up a little short.'
Central Arkansas had four players in double figures, led by Pouncy and junior center Carlos Dos Santos with 14 points each. Rueter added 13 points and 9 rebounds, while junior forward Tadre Sheppard had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sheppard was the bright spot at the line, hitting 11 of 14 free throws. Kevin Murphy and Elijah Muhammad had 16 points apiece for Tech, while Davis and Dillard added 10 each.
The Bears travel to Lawrence, Kan., on Thursday night to take on No. 1 Kansas at 7 p.m. at storied Allen Fieldhouse.
Arizona State 84, Texas State 62
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State men's basketball team used a 16-2 run in the final four minutes of the first half to overcome a one-point deficit and go on to defeat Texas State 84-62 in the opening round of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Tipoff on Monday night.
The opening 15 minutes of the game was filled with each team fighting back and forth for control of the game. Texas State opened the game with John Rybak hitting back-to-back 3-point shots and Jonathan Sloan scoring two more points on a layup to take an early 8-4 lead. Arizona answered with a 15-5 run to take a 19-11 lead with 13 minutes left in the half. Then, Texas State came right back with another 13-4 run to take its final lead of the game at 24-23 with six minutes to play in the first half.
That is when the Bobcats went ice cold and to complicate matters point guard Uriel Segura picked up his third foul. Arizona State took advantage as Texas State missed its next six shots and committed four turnovers in the next five minutes to take a 39-24 lead before Tony Bishop banked a shot in from inside the lane to make the halftime score 39-26.
The second half started much like the opening period ended as the Devils outscored the Bobcats 13-4 in the first eight minutes before J.B. Conley nailed a three-point basket to make the score 52-33. Tony Bishop scored five straight points on a pair of lay-ups and a free throw to pull the Bobcats back to within 15, 53-38 with 11:29 left to play. That was as close as Texas State could get as Arizona State ended the game outscoring the Bobcats 31-24 the rest of the way.
Cameron Johnson scored 14 points to lead Texas State, while Emmanuel Bidias A' Moute pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points. Sloan finished with nine points before leaving the game in the second half with an ankle injury."
Southern Utah 68, McNeese State 59
HONOLULU, Hawaii -McNeese State dropped its third and final game of the Rainbow Classic Tournament with a 68-59 loss to Southern Utah Monday night.
The Cowboys (0-3) led the entire way and were up by as many as nine points early in the second half, but gave up the lead for the first time in the contest with 9:48 left in the game and never regained it.
McNeese went into the half holding a 35-20 lead over the Thunderbirds (1-2) but came out of the locker room cold, only making three field goals in the first 13 minutes of the period.
"When it was tied up 35-35 they just made some big shots and we didn't," McNeese coach Dave Simmons said. "They hadn't been making threes all night but hit two real quick."
P.J. Alawoya put up his first double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 13 rebounds. He reached the double-double mark shortly into the second half and finished up the tournament with 20 total rebounds.
The Cowboys managed to turn 19 Thunderbird turnovers into 19 points and only gave the ball up 12 times themselves. McNeese was outrebounded, however, 39-23.
"We definitely need to improve in that category because when it comes down to it, the biggest difference was at the glass," said Simmons of the rebound totals. "But I have seen some things, especially in the younger guys, that shows we'll get better at it."
Junior Stephan Martin led the Cowboys with his 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half, while Patrick Richard was close behind with 16. Diego Kapelan had 10 points of his own, including two three point balls, putting him at 10-17 from beyond the three-point line this season. Martin finished up the three-game tournament with 49 total points.
"We're leaving here 0-3 but we're leaving playing better basketball then we were on day one," Simmons added. "I know we can shoot the ball well and we got to the line a little more, but we've still just got to execute when the score's close."
The Cowboys will return to Lake Charles for their home opener where they have a 2 p.m. match up scheduled against Louisiana College in Burton Coliseum.