BEAUMONT, Texas – It is a story that has become all too familiar for Lamar University head men's basketball coach Tic Price and his Cardinals this season, and it is a story that repeated itself again Monday night in the Montagne Center. The Cardinals fell behind by double digits early in the first half to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, only to rally to take a lead in the second half but watch their opponents reclaim the advantage and hold on for the win late in the contest. That was the scenario as the Islanders escaped Beaumont with a 91-82 decision dropping the Cardinals to 9-7 overall, and 1-3 in Southland Conference play.
 
"You saw experience versus inexperience tonight, and experience won," said head coach Tic Price. "In our last 12 possessions we turned the ball over six times, so we lost some composure down the stretch, but we battled and played hard. This time of year you have to execute offensively, and you have to make your defensive stops."
 
The Cardinals finished the night with four players in double figures led by freshman Nick Garth. The Houston, Texas native scored 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, which included a 4-of-7 performance from beyond the arc. Senior Dontavious Sears recorded his third-straight double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman Josh Nzeakor just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Junior Lincoln Davis chipped 11 on the night.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished the game with five players in double figures, led by Bryce Douvier's 26 points and 14 rebounds. Ali Hameed added 13 for the Islanders, while Ehab Amin scored 12 on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
"We did a good job defensively on (Rashawn) Thomas and (Brandon) Pye tonight, but we needed to a better job against the supporting cast. Bryce Douvier was a thorn in our side all night."
 
Thomas entered the game as the Southland's second-leading scorer, but was held to 11 points, seven of which came from the free throw line. Pye was a non-factor with four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
 
Both teams lit up the nets in the second half shooting better than 50 percent from the field. The Cardinals were 16-of-29 (.552) in the final 20 minutes to finish at 47.5 percent for the night. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi shot better than 48 percent from the field after going 16-of-31 (.516) in the second half. The Islanders were also 10-of-20 (.500) from three-point range.
 
The Cardinals outrebounded their opponents by six, 38-32, and forced A&M-Corpus Christi into two more turnovers on the night, but LU didn't make the Islanders pay for their mistakes. LU could manage only 11 points off Corpus Christi mistakes, while the Cardinals were burned for 22 points on their 17 turnovers.
 
The Cardinals got another strong performance from their reserves. LU's bench outscored the Islanders' reserves, 51-31.
 
The Cardinals fell behind by 15 points, 20-5, to start the game, and didn't record their first field goal until nearly three minutes into the half. The basket, a three-pointer from senior Dontavious Sears, was one of only two field goals for LU in the first eight-plus minutes of the opening half.
 
The Islanders appeared to be on the verge of running away with the contest early on, but the 15-point advantage was as large as their lead would get all night. Despite being outshot by their guests in the opening 20 minutes, the Cardinals began methodically chipping away the A&M-Corpus Christi lead.
 
After a steal that led to a layup for Davis, the Cardinals got a stop on the defensive end which led to a layup for freshman Dorian Chatman. Big Red cut the deficit down to single digits after another stop led to a layup from Nzeakor. After A&M-Corpus Christi pushed its lead back to 13 points with just over eight remaining in the half, LU rattled off a 9-0 run to cut the lead to four, 29-25, with 6:57 on the clock.
 
The Islanders got two free throws from Douvier to push their advantage back to six points, and LU responded with consecutive baskets from Garth to pull within a point, 33-32. Davis would tie the game up at the free throw line moments later. After A&M-Corpus responded by scoring the next four points to take a two possession lead, the Cards closed the half on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 39 heading into the locker room.
 
The Cardinals got consecutive baskets from senior LeMon Gregory and Davis to take a four-point lead to start the second half. The game would remain close for the rest of the contest as fans were witness to two ties and 18 lead changes in the second half.
 
The final lead change came at the 4:39 mark when Corpus Christi's Thomas netted two free throws to give the Islanders a one-point lead with less than five to play. The Islanders took advantage of six turnovers in the Cardinals final 12 possessions to rattle off a 9-2 run to build an eight-point advantage with 2:09 remaining. The late turnovers were too much to overcome as the two teams traded baskets in the game's final minutes and the Islanders held on for the win.
 
The Cardinals will look to put an end to its current three-game slide Saturday when it plays host to Northwestern State. The game against the Demons is slated to tip off at 4:30 p.m. from the Montagne Center in Beaumont.
 
-LU CARDINALS-