Feb. 10, 2011

Box Score

NATCHITOCHES, La. -Anthony Miles' 3-point attempt at the buzzer was just off the mark as host Northwestern State held on for a 70-68 Southland Conference basketball victory over Lamar University on Thursday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.

The Cardinals, who will host Nicholls at 7 p.m. on Saturday, fell to 9-14 on the year and 3-6 in SLC play. NSU, which completed a season sweep of the Cards, improved to 15-10 overall and leads the SLC East Division by a game and a half with a 7-3 mark.

"I think we did a good job of hanging in there and we had a chance to win at the end," said LU head coach Steve Roccaforte. "We built a lead early, but when you play good teams, especially on the road, you're not going to pitch a shutout."

Miles, who finished with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists, hit a driving layup to put the Cardinals ahead 64-50 with 6:32 on the clock. The Demons responded with an 11-0 run to build a five-point lead with 1:57 on the clock.

Sophomore Stan Brown took a pass from Donley Minor on an inbounds play and hit a layup to stop the NSU run and cut the score to 65-62. After a Will Pratt layup for NSU, Devon Lamb hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game to make the score 67-65 with 1:09 to play.

Lamar and NSU each hit a pair of free throws to keep the Demons' margin at two points with just 16 seconds to play. With the lead and the ball, Dominic Knight's inbounds pass was stolen by Lamar's Kendrick Harris. Harris was fouled by Shamir Davis, but could make only 1-of-2 free throws.

Junior center William Mosley, who set a Montagne Center record with 10 blocked shots in this season's earlier meeting, made 1-of-2 free throws with seven seconds to play. Knight was able to corral the offensive rebound, but lost his balance and the ball went out of bounds.

Miles raced the ball up the court and had a good look from 3-point range, but the shot bounced off the front of the rim.

"We had enough time to get to the rim or take an open three," said Roccaforte. "We had shooters at every spot and Anthony got a good look, but it just didn't go down."

The Cardinals were impressive early, opening the game on a 20-2 run over the first eight minutes. Pratt scored the opening bucket before LU ran off the next 20 points. Pratt would finally stop the run with a layup and free throw at the 12:49 mark.

The Demons then built momentum and stormed all the way back to within one point at 28-27 with 3:19 to play in the first half. Miles and Brandon Davis hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Lamar to push the lead back to seven points.

Lamar was 5-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half and led 37-31 going into the break. As in the first meeting, Lamar was able to get to the offensive glass. The Cards pulled down 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and scored 11 second chance points.

NSU caught fire in the second half, shooting 53.3 percent from the floor. The Demons would make 50.0 percent of their field goal attempts in the game, and limited the Cards to 39.3 percent shooting.

LU finished the game with a 42-34 rebound advantage, getting a game-high 11 rebounds from Lamb. The 6-foot-2 Lamb added 21 points for his sixth double-double of the season.

Minor finished the game with five points for the Cards, but his defense on NSU's Devon Baker was outstanding. Baker, the Demons' second leading scorer on the year, finished with no points after averaging 26.3 over his previous three games.

Senior Coy Custer added eight points and seven boards for Lamar.

Pratt led the Demons with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Mosley matched his career-high with 16 points, adding eight rebounds and seven blocked shots.

LAMAR