BEAUMONT, Texas – With six games remaining in the 2016-17 regular season, the Lamar University men's basketball team enters the stretch run tied for fourth in the Southland Conference standings, and looking to make its first appearance in the conference tournament since the 2011-12 season. For the Cardinals to reach that goal, they face arguably the toughest remaining stretch of anyone in the league.
 
Big Red closes out the regular season with four of its final six games away from Beaumont, including a current four-game stretch that has remaining dates at Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northwestern State. Following that run, the Cardinals return home to host Houston Baptist and Nicholls before closing out the season at rival McNeese.
 
LU (15-10/7-5 SLC) is currently tied for fourth with A&M-Corpus Christi – its opponent on Saturday – just a game back of defending champion SFA. The Lumberjacks (13-11/8-4 SLC) are currently third in the standings just a half game back of Sam Houston State and 1.5 back of league-leading New Orleans.
 
The Cardinals hold a valuable spot in the Southland race. If LU entered the tournament as a fourth seed they would receive an opening-round bye. While that brings an obvious advantage, it is not the end goal. The Cards are eyeing their first regular-season title since the 2007-08 season when it posted a 13-3 mark to share the title with SFA. Although mired in the midst of a logjam, the Cardinals still have a shot a share of the title, but they will need some help. The Red and White would need to win out, and have SHSU lose at least one more game, and have New Orleans lose two more.
 
That would be the easiest scenario, but nothing this year within the conference has been easy. Three of the Cardinals' five conference losses have been heartbreaking decisions that came down to the wire. Two were overtime losses at home that saw LU struggle from the free throw line, and the third was a half-court buzzer beater at Abilene Christian. The top eight teams in the league are separated by only four games, and all 13 teams in the league are separated by a mere 6.5 games (with most teams still having six to play). No team has officially locked up a tournament berth entering the week, and no team has been officially eliminated (Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian are not eligible for the 2017 Southland tournament).
 
The Red and White have won three of their past four games, but are coming off a disappointing performance at Houston Baptist that saw them fall behind by as many as 21 points before rallying late. The Cardinals now must turn their attention to a Stephen F. Austin team that has overcome a slow start in league play to put themselves right back in the title hunt. Winners in four of their last five, and seven of their past nine, the defending champions kicked off the season by dropping two of their first three conference games but have since rebounded, and are coming off an eight-point decision over Incarnate Word.
 
History has not been on the Cardinals side in the series recently. Not only will the game be played in a venue where SFA rarely loses (SFA has a 10-1 home record this season), the Cardinals have dropped 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series, and 17 of the past 21 (dating back to the 2002-03 season). Big Red's last win in the series was an 11-point decision during the 2012 Southland Conference tournament.
 
The Cards enter the week with their magic number down to three. Any combination of three LU victories or three losses by both McNeese and Nicholls will lock up the spot in the Southland tournament, to be held next month in Katy. Tickets for the Southland Conference Championships can be purchased through the LU Ticket Office by calling (409) 880-1715, or by logging on to www.LamarCardinals.com. In addition to buying individual session tickets, fans can also purchase ticket books, which is good for all eight sessions. First-round tickets are $15, while the ticket book is $60.
 
Thursday's game will tip off at 8 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches. It can be seen live on ESPN3, and heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.
 
-LU CARDINALS-