BEAUMONT,  Texas – After putting an end to their small three-game slide in thrilling fashion Saturday evening, the Lamar University men's basketball team (10-7/2-3 Southland) will look to carry that momentum into Monday's game at Southeastern Louisiana. Currently seventh in the Southland Conference standings, the Cardinals will face their second-straight opponent looking for its first league win of the season.
 
The Lions are 2-15 (.118) overall and have started conference play by dropping four consecutive games. SLU has dropped nine straight dating back to a Dec. 1^st win over Loyola (New Orleans). Although the Lions have struggled during the early part of the season, both of their wins have come at home and SLU has won each of the past two games played in Hammond against the Cardinals.
 
Southeastern has had its struggles this season scoring currently ranked 12^th in the league averaging less than 69 points per game. The Lions have hit the 70-point mark only four times this season, but have been involved in consecutive heartbreaking losses heading into Monday's showdown. SLU dropped a seven-point decision at Sam Houston State a week ago and followed that up with a four-point setback to Incarnate Word Saturday. Senior guard Zay Jackson leads SLU averaging nearly 14 points per game.
 
Freshman Nick Garth (14.8 ppg) continues to lead an LU offense ranked second in the league in scoring (79.1 ppg), and Garth hasn't had to do it all by himself. Senior Dontavious Sears has become a double-double machine for the Cardinals over the course of the team's past four games averaging 13.5 points and 11.8 rebounds during that stretch.
 
An area of concern for LU head coach Tic Price lately has been the number of turnovers committed by the Cardinals, which has led to points on the other end of the floor. Although the Cardinals minimized the impact of their turnovers in Saturday's win over Northwestern State, the turnovers have hurt as Big Red has fallen from second in the league in scoring defense down to eighth in the previous four games.
 
The game against the Lions is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. from the University Center in Hammond, La. It can be heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI with Harold Mann calling the action.
LU vs. the Lions
The Cardinals are 24-20 (.545) all-time against Southeastern Louisiana, but have dropped four of the last five meetings. Big Red is 8-11 (.421) all-time against SLU in Hammond and has dropped the last two games on the road in the series. The Cards recorded a seven-point victory, 57-50, last season in Beaumont.

Price vs. the Lions
LU head coach Tic Price is two games above .500 all-time against Southeastern Louisiana in his career. He enters Monday's showdown with a 6-4 (.600) record against SLU.

Home Sweet Home
The Cardinals have made the Montagne Center one of the toughest venues for opponents to play over the course of its 30-plus year history. The Cardinals have posted a 303-147 (.673) record in the Montagne Center. LU recorded a program-best 15 home victories during the 1987-88 season. LU was 12-2 (.857) at home last year, and is 7-3 (.700) this season.

Home/Away Comparisons
The Cardinals are 3-4 (.429) in away games this season. Southeastern Louisiana has struggled to find a great deal of success this season, but both of their wins have come at home. SLU is 2-2 (.500) in the University Center during the 2015-16 campaign. 

On this Date in History
The Cardinals are 9-8 (.529) all-time in games played on the 18th of January.
 
Lamar in January
The Cardinals are 270-242 (.527) all-time in the month of January. LU has produced above .500 records in the month 30 times in program history, which includes three perfect records (1965-66, 1968-69 and 1987-88). That winning percentage jumps when looking at home games. The Cards are 188-86 (.686) all-time in January at home.

The World according to Garth
Freshman guard Nick Garth has made the transition from high school basketball to NCAA Division I hoops look fairly easy. The Houston, Texas native scored in double figures in all but two of the team's games this season. Oddly, Garth's only two non-double digit performances came in the two games he started. Garth has taken his play to another level in the past two games. The Houston native scored a career-high  25 points on 8-of-14 (.571) shooting, including a 4-of-7 (.571) effort from beyond the arc against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He followed that up with a 19-point performance in the win over Northwestern State. He is averaging 22 points per game in the last two games.

Double-Double
Senior Dontavious Sears has become a double-double machine over the course of the team's past four games. He kept that streak alive with 19 points and  tying a career-high with 13 rebounds against Northwestern State. Sears has recorded five double-doubles on the season, and it is the ninth time this season that a Cardinal has recorded a double-double. Sears is tied for the top spot in the Southland, and is one of only two players in the league to have recorded five double-doubles this year.
 
Doubling Up The Double-Doubles
Senior Dontavious Sears wasn't the only Cardinal player to finish the night with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Josh Nzeakor recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 18 points and 15 rebounds. Along with Sears, it was the eighth and ninth time this season that a Cardinal has posted a double-double. It was the first time since February 29, 2012, that two Cardinals have recorded a double-double in the same game (Devon Lamb and Charlie Harper).

A Nbeast on the Nglass
Freshman Josh Nzeakor is becoming a threat on the glass for head coach Tic Price. After recording 36 rebounds in the team's first 13 games, the Mesquite, Texas native has become one of the league's top rebounders over the course of the previous four games. Nzeakor has pulled down 45 rebounds during that stretch, including a career-high 15 in the team's come-from-behind victory over Northwestern State.

Need Assistance
After missing the previous two games with an injury, sophomore Kevin Booze made the most of his return to the court. Although he only scored four points in the victory over Northwestern State, Booze dished out a career-high 10 assists. It was the first time a Cardinal has recorded at least 10 assists in a game since Anthony Holliday dished out 11 against Champion Baptist last season.

Picking up the Pace
After knocking down just eight field goals in the opening half against Northwestern State, LU picked up the intensity in the second. The Cardinals made 21 field goals, and shot nearly 64 percent in the final 20 minutes against the Demons. It was the highest field-goal percentage by the Cardinals in a half this season, and the second time this year that LU has shot at least 60 percent in a half.
    
Defense Doesn't Rest
It wasn't just the LU offense that was clicking in Saturday's win over Northwestern State. The Cardinals defense also managed to shutdown one of the nation's leading scorers. Northwestern State's Zeek Woodley entered the game leading the Southland Conference averaging 22.9 points per game, but the Cardinals held Woodley to only 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

The Clock is TICing
LU head coach Tic Price is approaching a career milestone in wins. Price has won 193 games during his career, only seven shy of 200.

A Historical Look at Lamar University
LU has been one of the Southland's more dominant teams throughout league history. The Cards have won nearly 54 percent of their SLC games. Lamar also has the most NCAA tournament appearances of any current Southland school (6), and their five NIT berths are also tops in the league. The Cards have had 76 All-Southland Conference players, including 29 first-team selections. Six players have been named league newcomer of the year, four have earned MVP honors and there has been one freshman of the year selection. Five former Cardinals have also been named SLC tournament MVP.

Up Next...
LU returns home for only one game Saturday when they host Houston Baptist. The game against the Huskies will tip off at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3. LU will then travel to Nacogdoches, Texas two night's later to face two-time defending SLC champion, Stephen F. Austin. The game against the Lumberjacks will tip off at 7 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
 
-LU CARDINALS-