Box Score Dec. 22, 2010
Box Score
BEAUMONT - Three Cardinals scored in double-figures on Wednesday night at the Montagne Center, but it was not enough as Lamar University fell 78-72 to visiting Canisius in men's basketball action.
The Cardinals, who will be back in action at Tulane on Dec. 30, fell to 5-6 on the season. Canisius put an end to a two-game skid to improve to 5-6 on the season, beating Lamar in the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Vincenzo Nelson knocked down an 18-footer with 9:38 to play to put the Cards ahead 51-48. The Golden Griffins went on an 11-3 run over the next four minutes to go ahead 59-54, and would never trail again.
Rebounding proved to be a problem for the Cardinals as Canisius won the battle of the boards 45-33. The Griffs grabbed 15 rebounds off of their own missed shots and enjoyed a 19-8 advantage in second chance points.
"Losing the game was disappointing," said LU head coach Steve Roccaforte. "Any time you get outrebounded like we did tonight, whether you are at home or on the road, it's tough to win."
A pair of Mike James free throws at the 2:05 mark got the Cardinals to within three points at 68-65, but a resounding slam dunk by Tomas Vazquez-Simmons just 30 seconds later on a nifty pass by Elton Frazier seemed to put the game away for the Griffs.
Lamar would cut it to three points just one more time, but Canisius, which shot just 13-of-20 from the free throw line on the night, made six straight down the stretch to ice the victory.
Lamar led 32-30 at the half, despite shooting just 31.3 percent from the floor. The Cardinals improved to 46.7 percent in the second half, but Canisius also knocked down 54.5 percent of its shots over the final 20 minutes.
Canisius looked impressive early and grabbed a 17-8 lead with 12:42 to play in the first half on a Greg Logins layup. Sophomore guard Donley Minor buried one of his four 3-pointers with 6:32 to play in the first half to cap a 13-3 LU run that put the Cards ahead 21-20.
"After a slow start I thought we played pretty good in the first half," said Roccaforte. "The subs came in and did a good job of getting us back in the game. In the middle of the second half we didn't do the things we needed to do in order to win."
A relatively well played contest, the two teams committed just 22 combined turnovers and were whistled for just 33 combined fouls. Lamar, which came into the game averaging 27.5 fouls committed per game, had just 15 on Wednesday night.
Minor came off the LU bench to knock down 4-of-5 from 3-point range in scoring 12 points. James led Lamar with 15 points off the bench in just 13 minutes of playing time, while junior Anthony Miles finished with 12 points and six assists. Miles made good on all eight of his free throw attempts.
The Griffs got a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds from Julius Coles, while Elton Frazier led all scorers with 22 points. Vazquez-Simmons added 15 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes off the Canisius bench, scoring all of his points in the second half.
LAMAR
