LamarStatesports Posted February 23, 2008 Report Posted February 23, 2008 Lamar State College-Port Arthur head basketball coach Don Bryson had plenty of reasons to smile Saturday as his team put on the best offensive performance in the program’s history while closing out the Seahawks’ best-ever season with a resounding 112-77 victory over Metro Athletic Conference rival Mountain View College. It hasn’t always been that way for Bryson, who will retire again after his team completes their playoff run, which begins Wednesday in Dallas. Bryson, a long-time high school coach and Lamar University’s first All-American, was lured out of retirement in May 2004 by LSC-PA athletic director Bill Worsham to take over the new program. With only a short time to recruit players and schedule games, Bryson could find only 15 games – one home game and 14 road games in the first seven weeks of the season. Bryson knew his new team was going to take some losses. And they certainly did. All of the first-year games were with full-scholarship Division I teams, and the Seahawks finished 0-15. Bryson had more talent to work with each season since then. The 2005-06 team went 4-20, and the 2006-07 group had a 5-15 year, including a 3-9 record in the Seahawks’ first year in the Metro Conference. When he took the job, Bryson planned to lead the program for three years and then go back to retirement. At the end of last season, he agreed to a one-year contract extension. “It will be a lot easier to retire now after seeing the continuing progress this program has made,†Bryson said. “This team has the most talent, man for man, of any team I’ve coached here. When they play hard, they are capable of beating anyone in this conference. If they perform like this in the MAC tournament, our season could be a lot longer than other people expect from us.†Bryson’s team broke three school records in Saturday’s game – most points in a game, highest margin of victory (35 points) and a new single-game scoring record of 34 points by sophomore forward George Williamson from Vidor. This was the third time this season that record was broken. On January 7, Williamson hit for 31 points against Southern University-Shreveport to break Kevin Charles’ previous record of 28 points. Two days later, sophomore forward Sam Stelly broke that record with a 31-point game against Cedar Valley College. Two other Seahawks scored in double figures Saturday. Sophomore guard Noah Cole and sophomore forward Andre Boutte Jr., both playing in their final home game as Seahawks, hit for 27 points and 14 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Cody Guidry, also playing in his last game in the Carl Parker Center, collected nine rebounds for Lamar State. Lamar State ends the regular season at 14-15 overall and 6-6 in conference play. The Metro Conference tournament begins Wednesday at the home court of the regular season runner-up. Brookhaven and North Lake ended up as conference co-champions. After a coin-flip, North Lake got the No. 1 seeding for the tournament and a bye in the first round, which will be played at Brookhaven College, 3939 Valley View Drive in Farmers Branch (Greater Dallas area). The school is located just north of the LBJ Freeway (Interstate 635), between Midway Road and Marsh Lane. Take I-35 north, exit to I-635 east. Exit I-635 at Marsh Lane. Make a left turn on Marsh. Go north to Valley View Lane. Turn right at Valley View. Turn left into the campus at the first traffic signal which is just past the water tower. Here are the first round matchups for Wednesday: 4 p.m. - Lamar State (6-6) vs. Richland College (6-6) 6 p.m. - Eastfield (7-5) vs. Cedar Valley (4-8) 8 p.m. - Brookhaven (8-4) vs. Mountain View (3-9)
KFDM COOP Posted February 23, 2008 Report Posted February 23, 2008 8) 8) A Huge Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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