Lamar State begins conference play Tuesday vs. unbeaten Lon Morris College

[LamarStatesports]

Only one team will emerge unbeaten for the season after Tuesday night’s Region XIV opening matchup in Port Arthur between the Lamar State College-Port Arthur Seahawks and the Lon Morris College Bearcats.

The Seahawks moved their 2010-11 season record to 6-0 Saturday with an impressive 121-107 home outing against Delgado Community College.

The Bearcats have been off since this past Wednesday, when they beat Weatherford College, 76-66, for their seventh straight win of the season.

Lamar State head coach Matt Cross said non-conference wins don’t mean much to either team.

“The only result that will mean anything this year is the one win or one loss one of us will have in the region standings after Tuesday’s game,” Cross said. “Lon Morris has a much stronger team than they did a year ago, particularly the post players. Coach Dotson is a Hall of Fame coach, and I know he will have his team ready to go.”

After nearly a month of non-conference games, Cross knows the strengths and weaknesses of his team, which includes five sophomores from last year’s team that took Lamar State to the Region XIV post-season tournament for the first time in school history.

“Our returning players are fired up,” he said. “Immediately after their season-ending loss to Trinity Valley, they started working hard to become better players. They want to get back to Tyler for redemption, and they know that journey starts Tuesday.”

Cross hopes the rest of his team understands the importance of each conference game.

“We have been telling our freshman and transfers to get ready because they are about to get thrown right into the fire of Region XIV competition,” he said. “It won’t take them long to see why it is considered the best junior college conference in the nation.”

Cross expects a tough game and would like to see a big crowd of supporters in the Carl Parker Center.

“I really encourage all of our Seahawk family to come out support us and to experience the outstanding talent of the players and teams in the conference,” he said. “Region XIV games are exciting and extremely intense. They usually are decided by 10 points or less. Ultimately, I know one game is not going to make or break you in the conference race. But this is a South Zone game and a home game for us. It would be great to win our conference opener.”