Gabe Posted March 13, 2008 Report Posted March 13, 2008 By Bob West The Port Arthur News KATY — Texas-Arlington’s inside game delivered, Lamar University’s outside game didn’t. In a nutshell, that’s why the Cardinals’ best season in 25 years ended in gloom Thursday afternoon in the opening game of the Southland Conference tournament. The Mavs, on the way to a bruising 81-75 victory, exploited their size and strength advantage to the utmost, starting with a conventional three-point play from 6-9 Jermaine Griffin in the first 16 seconds. Some 40 minutes later, UTA had scored 42 points in the paint, hammered the Cardinals 38-29 on the boards and punched out Lamar’s hopes of a first post-season appearance since 2000. While the Mavs (19-11) got just what they wanted from the inside, LU was unable to counter from the outside. The Southland Conference’s best 3-point shooting team made only 7-of-26 (26.9 percent). Currye Todd (0-for-5), Darren Hopkins (2-for-8) and Brandon McThay (1-of-4) went a collective 3-for-17 on treys and made just 4-of-24 shots overall. Able to get only 24 points in the paint, the poor outside shooting was simply more than the Cardinals could overcome. “We didn’t shoot as well as we needed too,†agreed dejected LU coach Steve Roccaforte, after watching his SLC regular season co-champions lose for the third time in four games to fininsh at 19-11. “We looked like we might have been a little worn down.†One Cardinal who did shoot well and play well was SLC Newcomer of the Year Kenny Dawkins. The 5-9 Dawkins scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and had four assists and three steals while playing his usual 40 minutes. Led by Jay Brown, who provided a huge lift off the bench with 15 points in 12 minutes, four other Cardinals scored in double figures. Lamar Sanders added 14 points and eight rebounds, Justin Nabors contributed 10 points and four boards and Hopkins, despite shooting poorly, managed 10 points and led the team with nine rebounds. Lamar spent nearly the entire game battling uphill, After falling behind 1-2 in the opening 2:16, and trailing 18-7 at one point, the Cardinals clawed back to lead 36-31, before settling for a 42-42 tie at halftime. It was more playing from behind in the second half, as the Mavs took the lead for good (51-49)on a layup by Anthony Vereen at 15:47 and stretched out to 73-60 with 7:49 left. The Cardinals answered with a 13-3 run to get within 76-73 on a Dawkins drive at 3:02. A bucket from in close by Sanders pulled LU within 77-75 with 45 seconds. But the Mavs slammed the door by going 4-for-4 at the foul line. Griffin, who was 10-for-10 from the field on the way to 21 points in UTA’s February loss to Lamar, went 8-for-10 and scored 20 this time. At one point in the second half, he was 16-for-16 in the two games against Lamar, with most of the baskets coming from point blank over smaller defenders. Despite the ease with which UTA got the ball into the low block at times, and the mounting points in the paint, Roccaforte said he gave no thought to switching to a zone defense. “We’re not a zone team. We’re a man-to-man team and a pressing team. We were going to stick with what we’ve done all year long because that's what got us to this point.†UTA coach Scott Cross said the game plan was to get the ball down low to Griffin and get him going early, then continue to go into the post. “That’s what our strength is — we have great guys that can score the ball in the post in Jermaine and Anthony Vereen.†Vereen backed Griffin's 20 points with 15 and the Mavs got an unpected bonus from their guards. Senior Rod Epps, who smothered Hopkins with his defense most of the afternoon, made 4-of-5 treys, 9-of-13 overall and scored a career high 24 points. His backcourt mate, Rog'er Guignard, tacked on 15. When the big men were not working Lamar over inside, Epps and Guignard stepped up. UTA, with 21 of its 30 field goals coming in the paint, wound up making 30-of-56 for 53.6 percent. The Mavs, thanks to Epps and Guignard, shot 50 percent (7-of-14) on treys. Lamar made 26-of-61 (42.6 percent) from the field. Beside poor field goal shooting from guards not named Dawkins, two other potential difference-making stats jumped out for Lamar in defeat. After scoring 29 points off 24 UTA turnovers in a February victory in Beaumont, LU managed only 17 points off 17 Maverick turnovers this time. That meant the Cardinals were forced to spend too much time trying to score out of their halfcourt offense, which is not a team strength. And, as usual, Lamar left points on the free throw line. The Cardinals made 16-of-23 freebies. That’s not terrible but still costly in a close game. Sanders’ 1-of-4 and Nabors’ 2-of-5 accounted for six of the seven misses. UTA, meanwhile, converted 14-of-17 (82.4 percent). “This team did a lot of great things in the regular sea and I am proud of them,†said Roccaforte. “It was noy the way we wanted it to end, it’s disapponting, it’s comparable to what happens in life. Things are always going to go your way. You have to take the good with the bad.â€
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