Box Score Dec. 30, 2014 Box Score
BEAUMONT, Texas - Senior Tyran de Lattibeaudiere scored a game-high 24 points, and sophomore Marcus Owens recorded his first career double-double (10 points and 13 rebounds) as the Lamar Cardinals defeated Huston-Tillotson, 85-59, Tuesday night at the Montagne Center. The victory extends Lamar's win streak to four, and gets the Cardinals back to .500 (6-6) on the season.
"Any time you have 21 assists to only eight turnovers, you have to be happy with that," said head coach Tic Price. "Collectively, I thought we played well in transition. Defensively, I thought we trapped really well in the first half, and in the second half we tried to lock guys up one-on-one. That is what we were looking for tonight, guys who could guard.
"I also thought we won in all the effort categories. We also put up a dominant performance on the glass tonight. Those are stats that I look at immediately, and I thought our guys did a really good job," added Price.
For a third consecutive game the Cardinals had at least five players score in double figures, as Big Red finished the night 31-of-73 (.425) from the field, including seven three-pointers. The Cardinals finished the night with 21 assists and only turned the ball over eight times. LU also controlled the glass outrebounding the Rams, 51-28. Lamar's advantage on the glass led to a 26-2 advantage in second chance points.
Although Huston-Tillotson shot the ball just a bit better than Lamar, 21-of-49 (.429), the Cardinals held their guests to a 3-of-14 (.214) performance from beyond the arc. Lamar also forced the Rams into 16 turnovers which the Cards cashed in for 24 points.
The visitors took the first lead of the game scoring the opening bucket less than a minute in. After two Donovan Ross free throws tied the game, the Rams got a basket from Malcolm Butler to reclaim the two point advantage. It would be Huston-Tillotson's final lead of the game as Lamar rattled off a 23-7 run to take a double-digit lead and never looked back, taking a 48-25 lead into the locker room.
The Rams tried to keep the game interesting in the second half cutting the deficit to 16 points, 58-41, with 14:16 remaining, behind Darion Cooks who came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points. Lamar responded to the run by pushing the advantage back over 20 points.
Freshman Kevin Booze responded to his first career start with 12 points, four assists and four steals in 25 minutes of action. His 12-point outing coming only eight days after scoring a career-high 17 against Rice to earn College Sports Madness Southland Player of the Week honors. Senior Donovan Ross added 13 points, while junior Dontavious Sears came off the bench to score 17 points and pull down six rebounds. Tuesday's game was one of the few times this season that Lamar's bench didn't outscore the opposing team's reserves (27-23).
"We've got some guys this year who can shoot the ball," said Price. "If teams want to try and double up Ty or Donovan in the post we have some options available to us who can knock down shots."
The Cardinals will open the New Year, and Southland Conference play, Saturday against Nicholls State. The game is slated to tip off at 6 p.m. from the Montagne Center.
-LAMAR-
