Lamar edges Bearkats 60-57
2/18/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HUNTSVILLE, TX ? Jay Brown gave the Cardinals the lead with a layup with 1:32 to play, then Lamar hit three of four free throws in the final 11 seconds for a 60-57 Southland Conference men's basketball victory over Sam Houston State at Johnson Coliseum Wednesday night.
Bearkat guard Corey Allmond had three free throws with four seconds remaining after being fouled on a trey attempt with Lamar up 58-56. But Allmond converted only one of the free throws and Hall grabbed the rebound to clinch the victory for the Cardinals.
Lamar (13-11, SLC 4-7) was led by Anthony Miles with 15 points and Ashton Hall with 11.
Sam Houston State (14-10, SLC 8-3) had two players in double figures with Drae Murray scoring 20 points and Barkley Falkner 10.
The game was tied seven times with 17 lead changes. Lamar's biggest lead was seven points, 20-13 in the first half. Sam Houston's biggest lead was four points.
The Bearkats missed several opportunities down the stretch and stumbled on their homecourt for the second straight game. Despite the loss, the Bearkats remain tied for first place with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Conference West Division.
“Being in first place, teams are going to come at you every night,” Murray said. “We aren't coming out ready to play. We aren't playing defense. Well, we actually played pretty good defense in the first half, but we weren't getting rebounds and couldn't get stops. We never could separate the game and get a lead on them.
“We just have to buckle down hard. Every night we are coming out slow and thinking people are just going to give us the game, especially at home. It was tough losing this one.”
Sam Houston State led several times late in the second half, but could never string together consecutive baskets to push the lead to multiple possessions. The Bearkats took a 52-50 lead with 5:23 to go in the game when senior DeLuis Ramirez scored on a layup only to see Lamar (4-7 in SLC, 13-12 overall) answer with a free throw and a basket by Jay Brown to retake the lead.
It went back and forth from there and Sam Houston State went back up 56-55 on a pair of free throws by junior Ashton Mitchell at the 2:55 mark. Junior Barkley Falkner, who scored 10 points and ripped down 10 rebounds, had a chance to add to the advantage, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one a minute later.
Brown scored on a layup to put Lamar back up 57-56 at the 1:31 mark. The Bearkats couldn't answer and had to foul with 10 seconds to go. Cardinals freshman Anthony Miles, who scored a team-high 15 points while filling in for leading scorer Kenny Dawkins, hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to 58-56.
Sam Houston State had a golden opportunity to tie the game, or possibly win it, when junior Corey Allmond was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer with four seconds left on the clock. After missing the first free throw, Allmond hit the second, but missed the third.
“They deserved to win. They played harder than we did,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said of the Cardinals. “Their best player and All-Southland Conference player (Dawkins) doesn't even suit up and they took it to us. We had a chance there, but didn't get the breaks late. I thought we had a timeout called and got a travel.
“We had a 2-to-1 turnover difference without their All-SLC point guard in there. It was 15-7.”
A critical play came with 27 seconds to go when Murray came down with a defensive rebound and the Bearkats were down one. The former Huntsville High School standout tried to call a timeout with a Lamar defender tugging on the ball, but the officials called Murray for traveling.
That gave the Cardinals the ball back and set up Miles' free throw.
“Tristan Worrell was pulling me, pushing me and grabbing me and I was trying to call a timeout,” Murray said. “I didn't travel. The dude was forcing me to travel as I was trying to call a timeout. I guess they didn't see that.”
Still, the Bearkats didn't play well enough to win. Sam Houston State shot 37 percent from the field and allowed Lamar to shoot 45 percent in the second half.
Without Murray's 6-for-6 performance from 3-point range, the rest of the team went 1-for-15. The Bearkats also only got 22 combined points from their starters, not counting the 10 points by Falkner.
Allmond and Mitchell, SHSU's two leading scorers, finished with seven and six points, respectively. Ramirez scored six points and Preston Brown only added three.
Lamar also outscored the Bearkats 38-18 in the paint.
“Our four starters, excluding Barkley, scored 22 points, and they have (Coy) Custer and Miles, who normally don't start, get 21,” Marlin said. “Without Drae we are 1-for-15 from 3. We missed free throws down the stretch. Our defense was good enough to win at times, but their size hurt us a little bit late when we were in foul trouble.
The Bearkats will try to snap their two-game home losing streak Saturday when Sam Houston State hosts Texas-San Antonio at 7 p.m
LAMAR 60, SAM HOUSTON STATE 57
02-18-09 7 PM at Huntsville, TX (Johnson Coliseum)
LAMAR (13-11, SLC 4-7)
Miles, Anthony 6-12 3-4 15; Hall, Ashton 4-9 2-4 11; McThay, Brandon 4-11
0-0 9; Brown, Jay 3-6 1-3 7; Custer, Coy 3-7 0-0 6; Harper, Charlie 1-6 3-4
5; Williams, Skyler 2-3 0-0 4; Worrell, Tristan 1-6 1-2 3; Mahoney, Shane
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 10-17 60.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (14-10, SLC 8-3)
Murray, Drae 6-7 2-2 20; Falkner, Barkley 4-7 2-3 10; Allmond, Corey 2-9 2-5
7; Mitchell, Ashton 2-6 2-2 6; Ramirez, DeLuis 3-6 0-1 6; Brown, Preston 1-6
1-2 3; Crow, Josten 1-6 1-1 3; Pevehouse, Lance 0-3 2-2 2; Kvedys, Domas 0-1
0-0 0; Thompson, Kendrell 0-0 0-0 0; Bootle, Antuan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-51
12-18 57.
Lamar......................... 29 31 - 60
Sam Houston State............. 26 31 - 57
3-point goals--Lamar 2-10 (Hall, Ashton 1-3; McThay, Brandon 1-4; Custer,
Coy 0-1; Brown, Jay 0-1; Miles, Anthony 0-1), Sam Houston State 7-21
(Murray, Drae 6-6; Allmond, Corey 1-3; Mitchell, Ashton 0-3; Ramirez, DeLuis
0-1; Brown, Preston 0-1; Crow, Josten 0-3; Pevehouse, Lance 0-2; Kvedys,
Domas 0-1; Falkner, Barkley 0-1). Fouled out--Lamar-Custer, Coy, Sam Houston
State-Crow, Josten. Rebounds--Lamar 34 (Hall, Ashton 7), Sam Houston State
43 (Falkner, Barkley 10). Assists--Lamar 19 (McThay, Brandon 7), Sam Houston
State 16 (Mitchell, Ashton 8). Total fouls--Lamar 17, Sam Houston State 17.
Technical fouls--Lamar-None, Sam Houston State-None. A-1557
