BEAUMONT — Sam Houston got rolling in the second half to put away Lamar for a 73-56 victory at the Montagne Center on Thursday.
 
Savion Flagg led the way with 19 points as the Bearkats improved to 4-1 in Western Athletic Conference play and 9-9 overall. Jarren Cook finished with 14 points, Jaden Ray added 11 points and Tristan Ikpe chipped in 10 to complete the regular season sweep of the Cardinals (2-13, 0-4).
 
Sam Houston blew the game open right before the end of the first half and to begin the second.
 
Flagg pushed a 10-point lead at the break to 38-25 with a three-point play coming out of halftime. Lamar answered with a basket, but Ray drilled a 3 and Flagg scored on a layup to increase the lead to 43-29.
 
Sam Houston led by as many as at 59-37 when Ikpe capped a 13-2 run with a layup at the 11:34 mark.
 
The Bearkats shot 48.3 percent from the field while holding the Cardinals to just 37.7 percent shooting. Sam Houston also outrebounded Lamar 37-32.
 
The first half was back and forth until the Bearkats opened up a double-digit lead before the break.
 
Lamar went up 25-24 on a pair of free throws with four minutes to go in the opening period. Sam Houston took control from there.
 
Damon Nicholas Jr. sparked an 11-0 run to close the half when he drove the left baseline and threw down a dunk. Ray got a steal and Javion May grabbed an offensive rebound on a miss for a put back to make it 28-25.
 
May, who missed the previous two games due to injury, scored again to put the Kats up five. Ikpe scored on a layup with less than a minute to go before the break, and Ray capped the run with a 3-pointer from the right wing to send Sam Houston into the half up 35-25.
 
With the victory, head coach Jason Hooten matched Bob Marlin as the all-time winningest coach in school history with 225 wins.