Box Score

BEAUMONT, Texas - The Lamar men's basketball team took advantage of an 18-4 first-half run to build an insurmountable lead defeating Central Arkansas, 84-65, Saturday night at the Montagne Center. The victory moves Lamar a game above the .500 mark (8-7/2-1 Southland), and keeps the Cardinals undefeated at home this season (7-0).

Four Cardinals finished the night in double figures for a team that shot better than 50 percent from the field (34-of-64/.531), including a 22-of-36 (.611) effort in the second half. The Cardinals also were effective from beyond the arc connecting on 8-of-21 (.381) three-pointers.

Freshman Zjori Bosha led the Lamar effort with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-10 (.700) shooting from the field, and 5-of-8 (.625) from three-point range. Classmate Kevin Booze added 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including two threes. Seniors Anthony Holliday (13 points) and Tyran de Lattibeaudiere (11 points) were the other two Cardinals in double figures.

"I was very pleased with our energy level tonight," said head coach Tic Price. "Every ball screen we felt like we could trap, and our rotations were good. We felt like if we could speed them up a little bit we could force some turnovers. We were able to do that and played very unselfish on the offensive end. I like how our guys shared the basketball.

"I also enjoyed seeing Zjori knock down some shots. It did wonders for his confidence. We need him, Marcus Owens and Dontavious Sears to knock down those shots when they're open. It can help us stretch the defense when those guys are on."

Although Central Arkansas shot 22-of-46 (.478) from the field, the LU defense was able to force its will on UCA. Lamar forced the Bears into 22 mistakes which the Cards converted into 27 points on the other end. Meanwhile, the Cardinals committed only nine turnovers, and just two in the opening half.

The early stages of the game were not as comforting for the Cardinals as the final score would indicate. UCA took the first lead and held a two-point advantage with 15:36 remaining in the opening half but that is when the light switch was turned on for the LU defense.

Lamar forced their visitors into 13 first-half turnovers, and used the mistakes to spark a 16-4 run to take a 12-point lead. Following Lamar's surge, the Bears were able to cut the deficit down to single digits one other time in the game. Lamar closed out the half with a Holliday jumper at the buzzer to cap a 26-12 run as Big Red went into the locker room protecting a 23-point lead.

Lamar pushed that advantage to 27 points early in the second half before UCA tried to mount a run. Led by 14 points from Mike Martin, the Bears cut the deficit to 18 points, 56-35, with 17:10 to play. Martin was one of four UCA players to finish the night in double digits, as the Bears staged one more late rally to pull within 16 points but could get no closer.

UCA's Jordan Howard chipped in 13 points, while Ethan Lee came off the bench to score 12 and pull down a team-high seven rebounds. Mathieu Kamba also scored 10 points in a reserve role for the Bears, but UCA's bench was outscored by the Cardinals' reserves, 38-24.

The Cardinals return to action Monday when they travel to Corpus Christi, Texas to face the Islanders. The game against A&M-Corpus Christi has been moved to a 6 p.m. tip off from the American Bank Center.

-LAMAR-