Lamar Grinds Out a 49-46 Win over Stephen F. Austin
Lamar 49, Stephen F. Austin 46
BEAUMONT, Texas - Anthony Miles hit a jumper with 40 seconds left to give Lamar the lead and Justin Nabors made a pair of free throws to lift the Cardinals to a 49-46 come-from-behind win over Stephen F. Austin at the Montagne Center Saturday night.
Lamar (13-11, 5-4 Southland Conference) won its third-straight game and snapped a four-game losing skid against the Lumberjacks. Nabors led the Cardinals with 12 points and 11 rebounds to post his 12th double-double of the season. He was 3-for-4 from the field and 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. Coy Custer added eight points and six boards off the bench.
The Cardinals shot 36 percent in the game and were 19-for-26 at the charity stripe. Lamar also secured a 37-22 edge on the glass and a 20-10 scoring margin in the paint.
SFA (16-6, 6-3 Southland) was paced by Walt Harris' 18 points which included three 3-pointers and a 5-for-5 performance at the line. Jereal Scott had 14 on 7-of-9 shooting. The Lumberjacks shot 37 percent and made all seven free throws.
SFA took its largest lead of the night at 42-36 following three Harris freebies. Donley Minor answered with a 3-pointer in the corner before a Scott bucket pushed the margin back to five points. Another triple by Minor and a jumper in the lane from Miles - his first hoops of the game - tied the contest at 44-44 with 2:02 left.
Harris answered with a pair of free throws before Custer grabbed an offensive rebound for Lamar and made one of two at the line to cut the SFA lead to 46-45. Custer corralled the ball on the ensuing SFA possession following a miss by Eric Bell before Lamar called a time out to set up the play that game it the lead for good.
The back-and-forth, grind-it-out game had 10 ties and 14 lead changes with the largest margin by either squad being six points by SFA with 4:27 to play in the game.
Lamar led 17-16 at the half with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage in the opening frame.
The 49 points scored in victory mark the fewest by a Cardinal squad since Feb. 26, 1990, when Lamar defeated McNeese State 49-48.
Lamar will step out of league play and host Lyon College on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. before traveling to Texas State next Saturday afternoon. SFA plays host to Northwestern State Wednesday at 7 p.m.
UTSA 64, Southeastern Louisiana 57
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Seniors Demarco Stepter and Terry Fields combined for 29 points and UTSA snapped its five-game losing streak with a 64-57 victory against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Stepter was 6-for-7 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line en route to a team-high 15 points, while Fields posted 14 points, six rebounds and four assists to help the Roadrunners improve to 13-8 overall and 3-5 in the Southland Conference.
"It's good to get back in the win column," UTSA coach Brooks Thompson said. "I thought we did several things well Wednesday night at Sam Houston and that carried over into today. We made great decisions and took good possessions on the offensive end and we guarded well. When you do those things well, you have a chance to be successful."
Patrick Sullivan led all players with 19 points, while Jason Marks added 13 and six boards for the Lions (13-9, 5-4 Southland).
Looking to snap the program's longest losing streak since dropping five straight from Jan. 23-Feb. 9, 2008, the Roadrunners took control early behind Stepter's inside presence. The Memphis, Tenn., native made his first four field goals, the last on a layup at the midway point of the half to give UTSA a 20-12 lead.
Sullivan scored 15 of his points in the first half, making 6-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the line, but it was not enough to overcome Stepter and UTSA's hot shooting from beyond the arc.
Freshman Melvin Johnson III, who finished with 10 points, drained a trio of 3-pointers and senior Morris Smith IV was 2-for-2, as the Roadrunners made 7-of-11 from downtown in the first. Johnson's last trey came from five feet behind the line just before the buzzer to help hand UTSA a 37-28 halftime advantage.
UTSA never trailed and shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) for the game, including 7-of-15 from downtown. The Roadrunners missed all four long-range attempts in the second half, but Southeastern Louisiana had more trouble finding the bottom of the net.
The Lions missed their first 14 3-point attempts before Rodney Jones finally found the bottom of the net with 1:35 to play to pull Southeastern to within 61-54. Stepter quickly answered with a layup to push the lead back to nine.
In the final seconds, Brandon Fortenberry struck from downtown to make it a two possession game with 10 ticks on the clock, but Johnson made 1-of-2 from the line to seal UTSA's eighth home win in 10 tries this season.
UTSA made 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the free-throw line and out-rebounded the taller Lions, 36-26. Southeastern shot 43.4 percent (23-53), but struggled to a 2-of-17 showing (11.8 percent) from behind the arc.
The Roadrunners travel to Conway, Ark., to face Central Arkansas Wednesday at 7 p.m. while Southeastern Louisiana returns to action next Saturday at home against Nicholls at 3 p.m.
Texas State 95, McNeese State 88
SAN MARCOS, Texas- Cameron Johnson scored 29 points and three other Bobcats came off the bench to score in double figures to lead Texas State to a 95-88 victory over McNeese State Saturday afternoon in Strahan Coliseum.
J.B. Conley scored 17 points, while Uriel Segura and Tony Bishop each netted 11 points off the bench for Texas State. Bishop also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
McNeese State was led by Stephan Martin's 24 points off the bench and Will Morning added 20 points. Diego Kapelan scored 17 points and Patrick Richard added 13.
In a game that featured 17 ties and 16 lead changes, the Bobcats broke the final tie with 4:42 left to play in the contest when Bishop made a pair of free throws to give Texas State an 81-79 lead. The Bobcats led the rest of the way as they outscored McNeese State 16-9 down the stretch.
After Bishop made his two free throws, Johnson made a pair of free throws to give Texas State a four-point lead for the first time in the game at 83-79. On the in-bounds pass, he fouled Elbryan Neal, who made a pair of free throws to pull the Cowboys back to within two points, before the Bobcats extended their lead to six points.
Conley scored the first two points when he made a pair of free throws and after a turnover by Richard, Dylan Hale hit Emmanuel Bidias A' Moute for a layup to give the Bobcats an 87-81 lead with 2:15 remaining in the game.
After Martin made a pair of free throws on McNeese State's next possession, Segura nailed his third 3-pointer of the game to put the Bobcats up 90-83 with 1:37 left to play.
The Cowboys closed to within four points one last time when Kapelan drove for a layup off a steal by Martin. But, Ryan White clinched the victory when he made four consecutive free throws to make the final score of 95-88.
The win improves Texas State's record to 11-12 overall and 5-4 in the Southland Conference standings. McNeese State fell to 8-14 overall and 3-5 in league play. The Bobcats travel to Texas A&M Corpus-Christi Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Cowboys will also play host to UT Arlington Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Sam Houston State 75, Central Arkansas 70
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Five Bearkats scored in double figures as Sam Houston State extended its Southland Conference men's basketball record to 8-0 with a gritty 75-70 victory over Central Arkansas Saturday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Gilberto Clavell scored 15 to lead Sam Houston (16-5, 8-0 Southland). Chris Poellnitz was the game's leading scorer with 31 points including 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
Three-point shooting kept the Bears in the game as Central Arkansas (7-15, 1-8 Southland) went 10-of-20 from beyond the arc. UCA hit 9 of their first 13 treys.
Sam Houston led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but UCA closed the margin as the Kats led by just five at intermission 41-36. The Bears took a brief four-point lead, 46-42 on a 3-pointer by Jared Rehmel with 16:40 to play. But Sam Houston jumped back in front 48-47 on a layup by Lance Pevehouse with 13:52 to play.
The Bearkats never trailed again, but could not put UCA away as the Bears still were within six points with 51 seconds to play.
Other players in double figures for Sam Houston were Corey Allmond and Preston Brown with 13 points, Antuan Brown with 12 and Josten Crow with 11.
The 8-0 start marks the first time Sam Houston has been unbeaten after its first eight Southland Conference games in the Bearkats' 23-year history in the league. The eight-game league winning streak is the team's second longest Southland win streak ever.
Sam Houston travels to Nicholls Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Central Arkansas will play host to UTSA Wednesday at 7 p.m.
UT Arlington 81, Northwestern State 80
ARLINGTON, Texas - Marquez Haynes hit a 12-foot jump shot with 4.3 seconds remaining to give UT Arlington an 81-80 comeback victory over Northwestern State Saturday.
The Mavericks trailed by one with 10.3 seconds remaining but the Demons' Devon Baker missed two free throws to set up Haynes' final play. The senior drove the length of the court made a move to the right and hit the 12-footer over the outstretched arm of Dominic Knight with 4.3 seconds to play.
Baker had a chance to win the game but his desperation 3-pointer missed as the Mavericks (12-9, 4-4 Southland Conference) earned their fourth consecutive victory.
Haynes finished with 32 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career. He became just the second player in UTA history to reach that milestone in two years. Brandon Long added 15 while Dwight Gentry had 13 for the Mavericks.
Northwestern State (7-14, 2-6 Southland) led by as much as eight at 77-69 with 2:59 to play. UT Arlington's Brandon Long helped erased that deficit with a 3-pointer and then a three-point play to cut the lead to two before the teams traded trips to the foul line before Haynes' heroics.
Will Pratt led Northwestern State with 16 points while Charles Clark added 15 and Baker and Damon Jones added 12.
Both teams struggled from the field as UT Arlington shot 41 percent while Northwestern was shot 38. The Demons made just 27-of-45 free throws while UT Arlington was 24-of-32 from the line.
Haynes also set another school record as the 32-point performance was his seventh of the season.
UT Arlington plays at McNeese State Wednesday at 7 p.m. while Northwestern visits Stephen F. Austin Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 71, Nicholls 46
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi shot a season-best 62.2 percent from the floor and never trailed Saturday, handing Nicholls a 71-46 loss as the Islanders celebrated homecoming on Stripes Court at the American Bank Center.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Islanders, who move to 4-0 all-time against Nicholls. They are now 12-10 on the season and 6-2 in the Southland Conference. The Colonels have lost three consecutive games and fell to 7-15 on the season and 3-6 in the Southland.
Demond Watt led the Islanders with his seventh double-double as he scored 17 points and 10 rebounds. Terence Jones added 13 points and Marcus Hammonds dropped in 11 second-half points.
Anatoly Bose led the Colonels with 11 points, while Fred Hunter scored 10. Bose entered the game second in the Southland Conference in scoring but finished over 11 points beneath his season average of 21.4 as he was 3-of-14 from the floor. He led the visitors with six rebounds.
The Islanders led the game for all but 1:17 when the game was knotted at two early on.
The game was tight at 16-13 before the Islanders broke open the game with an 18-2 run to take a 34-15 advantage. They led 34-18 at the intermission.
A 7-1 spurt to open the second half pushed the Islander lead to 23 points on a three-point basket by Horace Bond.
Nicholls could get no closer than 12 points when Bose and Hunter converted back-to-back buckets in the paint to make it 47-35 with 10:53 remaining.
Hammonds, who was 3-of-4 from three-point range, answered with a dunk and Shamar Coombs hit a jumper for two of his eight points as A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 9-2 run to lead 56-37.
Filip Toncinic had four blocks for the Islanders. The Islanders finished with nine steals in the game led by Coombs with three. Kevin Palmer and Hammonds each had two. Palmer is now one steal shy of Taurean Mitchell for career steals with 146.
Palmer finished with six points on the night as he took just two shots from the floor and hit four free throws. The six points broke a 43-game streak of double-digit points for Palmer. He last had single digits last December at Savannah State.
While hitting over 60 percent of its shots in both halves, A&M-Corpus Christi limited the visitors to 34.7 percent for the game. The Islanders out-rebounded Nicholls 26-23. After missing 18 fouls shots in a loss on Wednesday, the Islanders hit 17-of-22 attempts in the win.
The Islanders remain at home on Wednesday to face Texas State on Stripes Court at 7 p.m. while Nicholls plays host to Sam Houston State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.