BEAUMONT, Texas – Fresh off a thrilling come-from-behind victory that saw Lamar University rally from a 16-point second half deficit to defeat Southland Conference co-leaders, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, with just eight seconds remaining, the Cardinals (6-13/2-4 SLC) now go in search of their second consecutive win. Winners in two of their last three games, the Cardinals will take on the Southland's other Cardinals – UIW – Saturday afternoon in the Montagne Center.
 
Both Cardinals are coming off big wins Thursday. LU defeated the conference co-leading Islanders to move into a tie for eighth place in the conference chase, while UIW traveled to Houston Christian and knocked off the Huskies for their first SLC win of the season to stay just a game back of the good guy Cards.
 
The conference standings currently look like a traffic jam on I-10. While Big Red is tied for eighth – which is the bad news – the Cardinals sit just a game back of three teams for fifth and just two back of the four co-leaders for first place – which is the good news.
 
Saturday's contest will also serve as the second game of a three-game homestand for the Red and White.
 
The Cardinals enter the weekend averaging 68.2 points per game led by a couple of freshmen. Arizona native Nate Calmese leads the league (and is the nation's fourth leading freshman scorer) averaging 16.7 points per game. He also leads all freshmen (nationally) with nine 20-point performances, and he is beginning to build a name as one of the nation's top clutch shooters. Already this season, he has two game-winning shots in the final seconds, and one game-tying basket at the buzzer.
 
Not to be outshined, classmate Yuto Yamanouchi recorded his team-best fifth double-double of the season Thursday in the win over the Islanders. He currently ranks third in the Southland Conference with his five double-doubles.
 
San Antonio's version of the Cardinals (7-12/1-5 SLC) put an end to a six-game slide Thursday with their 11-point win at Houston Baptist. UIW is averaging nearly 70 points per game, while shooting 43 percent from the field. UIW's Cardinals are led by two players in double-figures, with Jonathan Cisse being the team leader averaging 14.1 points per game. UIW has six players who average at least 8.0 points per contest.
 
Saturday's contest will be just the 16^th meeting between the two schools on the court, in a series that has favored Big Red. After San Antonio's version of the Cardinals won four of their first six meetings, LU holds a 10-5 (.667) all-time record which includes a 6-2 mark in Beaumont.
 
Saturday's contest is slated to start at 6 p.m. from the Montagne Center and will broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.