Seahawks play final road game Saturday

[LamarStatesports]

The Lamar State College-Port Arthur Seahawks will play their final road game of the 2010 regular season at 4 p.m. Saturday at Jacksonville College.

Lamar State climbed to 18-9 overall and 8-8 in conference play Wednesday with an overwhelming 101-55 home win over Blinn College.

Although the victory secured a spot in the Region XIV post-season tournament, the Jacksonville game is very important for the Seahawks’ seeding because the Jaguars (14-13, 8-8) are tied with Lamar State and Angelina College for second place in the South Zone. The top two teams in the North and South zones earn a bye in the tournament’s opening round.

Lamar State split with Angelina and won this season’s first meeting with Jacksonville, 83-73, in Port Arthur on Jan. 6.

LSC-PA head coach Matt Cross said, “We need to close out Jacksonville to put us in a position to take second place in the South Zone. More importantly, we want to continue improving so we will be playing our best basketball of the season when we reach the conference tournament. It’s very important that we leave Jacksonville as a better team than when we arrived there.”

Jacksonville’s three-game win streak was broken Wednesday, when they lost at home to Paris Junior College, 75-62.

“Even considering the loss to Paris, Jacksonville has been one of the hottest teams in the region over the last month or so,” Cross said. “I’ve really been impressed with their improvement since the first time we played them.”

Lamar State closes out the regular season at home against Panola College on Feb. 24 and Lee College on Feb. 27.

The Region XIV Tournament is set for March 5-8 at the University of Texas-Tyler.

Seahawk Notes

* The Seahawks’ swarming, full-court defense threw a net over Blinn College’s All-American guard Kahlil McDonald, who came into Wednesday’s game leading Region XIV in scoring with 582 points (24.3 points per game). McDonald never was able to get into the flow of the game and finished with just nine points.

* Sophomore forward Ahyaro Phillips recorded his 18th double-double of the season against Blinn with a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds. He also blocked six shots.

* Blinn’s loss eliminated the Buccaneers from the race to qualify for the post-season tournament. Blinn joins Bossier Parish Community College on the sidelines this year.

[whsalum]

Not bad for a club that wasn't supposed to be able to compete.