x
Breaking News
More () »

Lamar snaps three-game losing streak

The Cardinals will be back in action Wednesday when they host Southern University (New Orleans).

BEAUMONT, Texas — Senior T.J. Atwood scored a game-high 22 points to lead Lamar University to a 73-60 victory over Rice Saturday afternoon in the Montagne Center. The victory ended a three-game slide for the road weary Cardinals who played their first home game since Nov. 15th.

 

The Cardinals shot better than 52 percent in the second half to finish the game with a 27-of-55 (.491) performance. Big Red also converted 75 percent of their attempts from free throw line. Led by nine rebounds from freshman Corey Nickerson, the Cardinals outrebounded their guests 35-34.

 

LU managed to put up big numbers despite the fact that leading scorer Davion Buster spent a majority of the game on the bench with early foul trouble finishing the day with just five points on 1-of-6 shooting.

 

The Cardinals held Rice to an 18-of-52 (.346) performance following a first half that saw the Owls limited to just six field goals (all three pointers). Rice went into the locker room at half shooting just 6-of-22 (.273) from the field but 6-of-12 (.500) from three-point range.

 

Atwood was joined in double figures by classmate V.J. Holmes and junior Ellis Jefferson. Holmes added 13 points and a team-high five assists, while Jefferson scored 11. Freshman David Muoka came off the bench to score five points and pull down four rebounds, but his biggest impact came on the defensive side of the floor where he blocked seven shots.

 

“When we look at stats the first thing we go to is rebounds and we were able to outrebound Rice,” said LU head coach Tic Price. “Then we look at how we defended because we try and hold folks to 40 percent or less from the field. Rice is one of those teams that will shoot as many threes as they do twos and they’re a very good shooting team. We really had to be focused on trying to run them off the three-point line.

 

“We had a big performance from T.J. Atwood today. He did a good job of leading the way. We also had two really good performances from a couple of our freshmen. David Muoka finished the game with seven blocks while Corey Nickerson pulled down nine rebounds,” added Price.

 

Rice scored the first five points of the game before the Cardinals got on the board with an Atwood jumper. The basket sparked a 16-4 run to give LU an early five-point lead. After Rice managed to trim the Cards’ lead back to two with long-range jumpers, the Cardinals went back to work on the defensive end to close the half on another run. Big Red closed the half on a 7-1 run, including a three-pointer at the buzzer from Atwood to take a 12-point lead, 35-23, into halftime.

 

The Cardinals opened the second half with a Buster three-ball and saw their lead climb to as many as 16 points before Rice attempted a comeback, although it was short lived. After grabbing the 16-point lead, the Owls rattled off the next seven points leading into the under eight media timeout but the run ended there.

 

The Cardinals came out of the timeout and scored the next five points to reclaim a double-digit lead. Big Red would be put to the free throw line late in the contest but LU took advantage of their opportunities to record their second-straight victory over the in-state rival.

 

The Cardinals will be back in action Wednesday when they host Southern University (New Orleans). The game against the Knights will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Montagne Center.

Before You Leave, Check This Out