Sizzling foul shooting lifts Lamar over SHS in overtime thriller

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By Bob West

The Port Arthur News

BEAUMONT — Anybody who doesn’t comprehend the importance of making free throws should have been at the Montagne Center Saturday night.

By sinking 25-of-27 (92.6 percent) at the foul line, Lamar University was able to overcome some of the worst transition defense in the history of college basketball to turn back Sam Houston State, 93-90, in an overtime thriller.

The Cardinals scored 8 of their 17 points in the extra period at the foul line, including four clutch ones from Matt Barrow in the final 19 seconds. The final pair capped off an 18-point second half by Barrow, who was scoreless in the opening 20 minutes.

Starting with Tristan Worrell making the second of two freebies with 3:34 left in regulation, the Cardinals made their final 13. Had they made 12-of-13, they would have lost by a point. Keep in the mind this is a team shooting 66.4 percent for the season, and Barrow, who rarely gets to the line, was 4-of-8 coming in.

“I haven’t shot been shooting free throws well,†Barrow said. “I just told myself ‘you’ve got to make these. The game is on the line.’ I was really focused.â€

Lamar needed uncharacteristic brilliance at the charity stripe, because it allowed Sam Houston to spend much of the game beating the defense back for easy layups. Time after time, the Bearkats whipped the ball down the floor and scored while the Cardinals were trying to get into their press.

Sam Houston State wound up shooing 52.1 percent (37-of-71) because about 60 percent of its field goal attempts were from point blank range. The Bearkats converted a whopping 56 points in the paint, with 21 of their field goals coming on layups.

In the end, all that mattered is that Lamar won its second consecutive high-scoring affair from defense-minded SHS. The Cardinals, of course, nipped the Bearkats, 99-98, in the opening round of the Southland Conference in March. They made 28 of 35 free throws in that one.

“They were both big wins, but for different reasons,†said LU coach Steve Roccaforte. “The tournament game was big because they beat us so bad early in the season, and it keep us alive. This one was big because it’s so important to hold serve at home in conference play if you are going to contend for anything.â€

Lamar, with the victory, improved to 2-1 in league play and 8-8 overall. Beyond that, they are finished with arguably the SLC’s two best teams — Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. The Bearkats, meanwhile, dropped to 2-2 and 14-3.

Next to the foul shooting, other stats were almost insignificant for the Cardinals. They were 30-of-70 from the field (42.9 percent) and 8-of-25 (32 percent) on treys. They won the boards 42-35, with 14 saves on the offensive glass. And they were sloppy with the basketball, commiting 22 turnovers that led to 22 Beakats points.

Lamar, as usual, won coming from way behind. The Cardinals were down 34-20 with 3:37 left in the first half, but clawed back to 39-33 at the break. After SHS ran back out to a 49-40 advantage, LU used an 18-4 run to roar to a 58-53 lead and get a crowd of 3,627 roaring.

A game that saw nine ties and five lead changes would be back-and-forth the rest of the way. Lamar had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Darren Hopkins missed an open three pointer. Kenny Dawkins hit a trey to open the extra period and the Cardinals never trailed.

“Give Lamar credit,†said Bearkat coach Bob Marlin. “Steve did a good job. The free throws were the difference. Twenty-five out of 27 from the line is amazing. They did that last year in the tournament. But 93 points is too many for us to give up. They got 60 in the second half. We needed to keep it in the 60s or 70s.â€

Heroes were aplenty for Lamar, starting with 6-6 senior Lamar Sanders. Sanders worked the Bearkats over on the inside, scoring 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He was 8-of-10 from the field, with his only two misses on ill-advised three-point attempts. His stat line also included four assists and three blocked shots.

When it was over, he admitted this is a budding rivalry that’s becoming a bit chippy.

“No disrespect to them, he said, “we just don’t like them. It’s mutual. They don’t like us. Things started tonight when they came out and ran through our warm-up line.â€

In addition to Barrow, Sanders got double figure scoring help from four other players. Brandon McThay and Justin Nabors scored 13 each and Kenny Dawkins and Hopkins added 10 each.

Nabors, who suffered a possible shoulder separation in the overtime period, hit probably the biggest shot of the night. Left open at the top of the key with 1:27 left in OT, he buried a trey for an 85-78 lead. Three balls from Ryan Bright and Shamir McDaniel 45 second apart, however, kept the Bearkats hanging around to the end.

It came down to Barrow making two free throws at 0:06, then SHS missing on a prayer of a three-point attempt as time expired.

Guards Ashton Mitchell and DeLuis Ramirez did most of the damage for SHS, scoring 19 points apiece, many of them on run outs. Bearkats star Ryan Bright delivered a mixed bag of a performance with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals and six of his team’s 19 turnovers.

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