Box Score Nov. 22, 2014 Box Score
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior Tyran de Lattibeaudiere was one of three Cardinals in double figures as Lamar battled Indiana down to the wire before falling to the Hoosiers, 85-72, Saturday night at Assembly Hall. The loss drops Lamar to 1-3 on the season, while the Hoosiers improve to 4-0.
"We're not into moral victories at Lamar," said head coach Tic Price. "But having said that, I'm very proud of the effort we gave tonight. Our guys understood their roles, and what they had to do tonight. Our kids gave good effort. Indiana is a very talented team. We were concerned about the matchup problems we were going to face coming into tonight. I thought our guys rose to the occasion. We lost to a very talented basketball team but I'm proud that our guys fought and scrapped."
De Lattibeaudiere sparked a Lamar offense that wouldn't allow Indiana to run and hide in the second half. Trailing by as many as 14 points, Lamar began to chip away at the IU lead remaining within single digits for the majority of the second half, and cutting the lead to seven with four to play.
Led by de Lattibeaudiere's 18 points and eight rebounds, the Cardinals shot better than 51 percent in the second half, and were 31-of-62 (.500) for the game, hanging with Indiana who shot 51 percent from the field.
Following a first half that saw LU turn the ball over 10 times, the Cardinals finished the game with only 12 miscues. Lamar got a huge lift from its bench which outscored the Hoosiers' reserves, 39-21. Freshman Zjori Bosha came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while senior Donovan Ross added 11.
The first seven minutes of the game were a back-and-forth affair that saw Lamar stand toe-to-toe with Indiana. The Cards knocked down three of their first four shots to take an early advantage over IU, but found themselves trailing by four, 13-9, just a couple minutes later. Lamar responded to the deficit by rattling off five consecutive points to reclaim a one-point lead. De Lattibeaudiere gave LU back the lead when he stole a pass and took it the distance for an easy dunk.
Despite solid shooting from LU in the opening half, the Hoosiers took advantage of Lamar's turnovers, and their own hot shooting to build a 17-point first-half lead. Junior Dontavious Sears ended a 26-6 run with a tip-in at the 4:30 mark of the first half.
The Cardinals followed by turning up the defensive pressure to battle their way back into the contest before the intermission. Junior LeMon Gregory stole a pass and took it the distance for a dunk to the cut the IU lead to eight, 40-32, with 1:11 remaining in the opening half. Gregory finished the opening half with six points.
The two teams alternated baskets before the horn as the Cardinals went into the locker room down, 42-34. Indiana closed out the half shooting better than 53 percent from the floor, including a 5-of-12 (.417) performance from beyond the arc.
Led by 10 first-half points from de Lattibeaudiere, the Cardinals finished the opening 20 minutes 15-of-31 (.484) from the floor, but turned the ball over 10 times which the Hoosiers converted into 14 points.
Indiana wasn't able to shake the Cardinals throughout the second half leading by no more than 14 points. Led by Sears who scored six second-half points, the Cardinals found themselves down 10 with six minutes remaining. Lamar cut the lead to seven, 77-70, following consecutive IU turnovers leading to layups for Ross with less than four minutes remaining but that would be as close as Lamar would get. The Hoosiers closed out the game scoring eight of the game's final 10 points.
Gregory finished the game with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, and pulled down three rebounds. Sears added eight points and pulled down four assists. Ross scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
The Cardinals return to action Tuesday, when they travel to Jonesboro, Ark., to take on Arkansas State. The game against the Red Wolves is slated to tip off at 7:05 p.m.
-LAMAR-
