March 1, 2008
Box Score
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Lamar trailed by as many as 17 but found itself down by three with the ball and 6.3 seconds left however Currye Todd's three-point attempt bounced off the rim as Lamar fell to McNeese State, 74-71, at Burton Coliseum Saturday.
With McNeese leading 66-50 and 7:10 remaining Lamar outscored the Cowboys 21-8 and sliced the deficit to three with 17.9 seconds left on a Lamar Sanders dunk. The Cardinals forced a timeout after the Cowboys got the ball in-bounds and then Kenny Dawkins came up with a steal and called timeout to set up the final play.
In that play, Todd came off a screen and took the ball from Sanders where he dribbled once and shot it from near the top of the key before John Pichon grabbed the rebounds and dribbled out the final second.
Lamar (18-8, 12-2 Southland) shot 42 percent and made eight 3-pointers, but struggled from the free throw line - converting 11-of-22.
Todd led the Cardinals with 16 points and tied his career-high with five treys. Darren Hopkins added 11 in the second half to finish with 13 and five rebounds. Justin Nabors came off the bench to score 12 points and pull down six boards. Sanders was the only other Lamar player in double-figures, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
McNeese State (13-13, 7-7) won its third-consecutive game and shot 55 percent, while holding a 41-28 advantage on the glass.
Jarvis Bradley led all players with 22 points, Pichon scored 14 and Kleon Penn had 12 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks.
While Lamar saw its 11-game winning streak end, it did maintain a one-game lead in the Southland Conference over Stephen F. Austin, as the Lumberjacks fell to Texas-Arlington in Nacogdoches.
Lamar will play host to Nicholls State on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Montagne Center before ending the regular-season at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday afternoon.
