Cardinals And Demons Renew Acquaintances In Natchitoches On Saturday

January 25, 2008

Lamar looking for first win in Natchitoches since 2005

Jan. 25, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

After snapping an eight-game road losing streak on Thursday night, Lamar will attempt to halt another losing streak when it travels to Northwestern State for a Saturday afternoon match-up. The Demons have won seven-straight over the Cardinals, including three-consecutive in Natchitoches.

Lamar-Northwestern State Series History

This will be the 37th meeting between Lamar and Northwestern State (beginning with the 1951-52 season) with the Cardinals holding a 19-17 all-time series advantage. Lamar is 14-3 in games played in Beaumont, 4-13 in Natchitoches and 1-1 on a neutral court. Northwestern State has won the last seven in the series, including three SLC Tournament games. Lamar's last win in the series was 89-84 on Feb. 3, 2005 in Natchitoches. The Demons have won eight of the last 10 meetings. Prior to that, Lamar had won eight of nine in the series. Lamar is 10-11 against NWLA since returning to the SLC.

Scouting Northwestern State

Northwestern State enters the weekend 7-12 overall and 3-2 in Southland play. After opening the league slate with victories over UTA, Texas State and at A&M-Corpus Christi, the Demons have dropped consecutive road games to UTSA in overtime and McNeese State on Wednesday. Like the Cardinals, the Demons have struggled away from home, fashioning a 1-10 mark away from Prather Coliseum compared to a 6-2 record at home.

Senior forwards Trey Gilder (16.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Colby Bargeman (10.2ppg, 6.7 rpg) are the leading scorers and rebounders for the Demons. Gilder leads the team in FT shooting at 81 percent thanks in part to his 100 attempts - nearly 23 percent of the entire roster. No NWLA player averages more than 27 minutes per game and 12 log at least 11 mpg.

As a team, NWLA averages 74.7 ppg on 42 percent shooting. They are allowing their opponents to average 84.5 ppg on 48 percent shooting. Those numbers are skewed a bit considering that in their five league games the Demons are limiting the opposition to 43 percent shooting and have a plus-2.0 scoring margin.

Road Skid Stopped At UCA

Lamar's 89-86 win at Central Arkansas was its first road victory of the year (1-6) and snapped an eight-game road losing streak that dated back to last season. The Cardinals' last win in an opponent's arena came at UCA last season. LU has won all three meetings with UCA since the Bears joined the SLC a year ago.

Lamar Plays Second-Consecutive OT Game

For just the third time in school history, Lamar played consecutive overtime games (SHSU and at UCA). In January of 1997, Grey Giovanini's squad actually played three-straight overtime games - going 2-1 - and actually had another two games after the last one for a stretch of four OT battles in five games. Pat Foster's 1981-82 bunch played free basketball in the second and third games of their season.

More Overtime Notes

Lamar is now 42-38 all-time in overtime games and 2-0 this season. The last time a Cardinal squad won two OT games in the same season came during the 1999-2000 campaign. Furthermore, it is just the fourth time to win two conference OT games (1976-77, 94-95, 96-97).

Inside the UCA Box Score

Lamar tied a season-high with four blocked shots ... the Cardinals forced three 10-second and two shot clock violations ... junior F Jay Brown played a season-best 21 minutes and had two key blocks in overtime to go along with seven points, four boards and two assists - one of which came on a Matt Barrow 3-pointer to beat the first-half buzzer ... senior G Darren Hopkins scored a season-high 20 points ... senior F Lamar Sanders posted his third double-double of the year ... senior G Currye Todd tied his season-high with four 3-pointers (all in the first half) and 17 points.

Cards Turning Into A Second-Half Team

While head coach Steve Roccaforte has preached to his players that they need to play 40 minutes every game, it might be comforting to the second-year coach to know that his halftime adjustments and encouraging words are having a positive effect on his troops. In the last four games, Lamar has shot 42 percent from the floor and 31 percent from outside in the first half, compared to 55 percent and 44 percent from those locations in the second half. The Cardinals are also averaging 14 more points (44.8 to 31.8) in the second 20-minute period than the first.

Big Red's 92.6% FT Effort Second-Highest In The Southland This Season

In the span of 48 hours, Lamar went from converting 60 percent (second lowest all year) of its free throw attempts last Thursday at SFA to making a season-high 92.6 percent on 25-of-27 in the 93-90 overtime win over Sam Houston State. Aside from 3-for-3 and 7-for-7 efforts by McNeese State and Northwestern State, that figure is the second-highest in the SLC this year.

Sanders' .656 FG Pct Ranks Sixth In The Nation

Senior F Lamar Sanders leads the Southland in FG pct with a .656 clip (he also is shooting .750 in 4 SLC games) and ranks sixth in the NCAA.

Lamar In The NCAA Rankings

Lamar enters the NWLA contest ranked in the top 60 in the NCAA in three categories: scoring offense-24th, assists per game-36th and steals per game-28th. Additionally, Lamar Sanders ranks sixth in field goal percentage at 65.6 and Kenny Dawkins ranks 20th in free throw percentage at 87.9 pct.

Barrow Goes For 61 In Last Five Games

In the last few weeks, senior G Matthew Barrow has started to get the shooting stroke back that saw him make 85 3-pointers in his first two seasons at Lamar. He has posted four double-figure scoring games in the last five, including back-to-back season-high 14-point efforts last week in games he started in place of the injured Brandon McThay. In the last six games he has averaged 12.8 points and made 12-of-38 (.316) shots from outside. For his career, he now has 111 3-pointers and is currently 15 away from cracking the Lamar career top-10 list.

Sanders Named SLC Player of the Week

The senior from Hickory Flat, Miss., was named the Southland Conference Player of the Week last week after leading Lamar to a pair of victories while averaging 16.5 points (on 15-of-19 shooting for a .789 FG pct.) and 6.5 boards. He posted a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the come-from-behind win over Utah Valley State and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor against UTSA in the conference-opener as he finished with 15 points, a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of steals. This marks the second time in his two-year career at Lamar that he has earned the honor. he shared POW plaudits with Kevin Menifee of A&M-CC the last week of the regular-season a year ago.

Cardinal Glass Cleaning Company

One reason for the improved play over the last few weeks has been Lamar's ability to attack the offensive glass and get second-chance opportunities. On the year, the Cardinals are fourth in the SLC with 13.5 offensive rebounds per game and on Thursday grabbed 20 rebounds on their own end - one shy of a season-high. Lamar is outscoring its opponents 227-161 in second-chance points for an average of 13.4-9.5.

The Magic Number is... 70

Lamar is 8-4 this season when scoring at least 70 points and 7-2 when holding its opponents under 70. The Cardinals are now 22-7 in two seasons under coach Steve Roccaforte when reaching the 70-point plateau.

Close Ones

The Cardinals have lost eight games this season but four have been especially agonizing for the LU faithful. In losses to Wyoming (75-71), Oral Roberts (65-57) and at Northern Illinois (65-63), Lamar was unable to maintain second-half leads in each contest. LU led Wyoming by 12 with 18:03 left and by 5 with 5:36 left; five days later against ORU the Cards had an 11-point lead in the first half and led 49-48 with 7:41 to play before being surrendering 11-consecutive points over the next 3:41; and after taking a 13-point lead on NIU with 16:54 remaining, LU was outscored 29-14 the rest of the way as the Huskies second-chance tip-in at the buzzer proved to be the difference. The Cardinals nearly pulled off a big upset last Tuesday at Texas Tech when the game was tied at 77 with 1:20 to play. But following a pair of Tech free throws with 22.5 seconds to play, Brandon McThay's 3-point attempt rimmed out as time expired.

Forcing Turnovers

The Cardinals' defense has done a very good job in forcing turnovers this season. Lamar has forced 336 turnovers while committing 270 miscues. LU is first in the SLC with a 4.0 turnover margin. The Cardinals have forced their opponents into at least 20 turnovers nine times this season, including seven of the last 12. UTSA, Rice, Lyon College, Louisiana College and LeTourneau all committed more turnovers than field goals made.

Triple Double-Double Sets School Record

When Darren Hopkins, Justin Nabors and Lamar Sanders each posted a double-double in the win over Lyon College (12/29), the trio combined to make school history when the trio became the first group of Lamar players to post three double-doubles in the same game.

The Season of Giving... and Keeping

Over the last 11 games, Lamar has averaged 18.9 assists per game, compared to just over 12 apg during the first six games. In fact, the Cardinals have assisted on 61 percent of their field goals over the stretch. They have also done a better job of taking care of the basketball, turning it over 15.2 times - well below the 17.7 early on in the season. In fact, LU's turnover margin has gone from +1.5 to +4.9 and sits at +4.0 on the season, which leads the Southland Conference.

Sharing The Rock - 75% of the Time

In the win over Lyon College (12/29), Lamar assisted on 28 of its 40 baskets for a 70 percent rate - a season high. That is until Tuesday when the Cardinals dished out 21 assists on 28 buckets for a new season-high of 75 percent. Other top assists-to-field goals made ratios included: 62.5% (15a to 24 fg) vs. Wyoming and 60.9 (14a to 23 fg) vs. Rice.

Lamar With Three In SLC Top 15 In 3-Pointers

Lamar is the only school in the SLC with three players ranking in the top 15 in 3-point field goal percentage. Currye Todd ranks first at 49%, Brandon McThay is third at 45.5 percent and Kenny Dawkins is rated seventh at 40.9%. As a team, the Cardinals rank third at 35.9% and second in 3-pointers made per game at 7.82.

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