BEAUMONT, Texas – Junior Jakevion Buckley came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points and dish out a game-high seven assists to lead Lamar University to a 75-56 victory over Nicholls Saturday evening at Neches Arena. The victory moves Lamar back into a three-way tie for second place in the conference standings as Big Red remains perfect at home in Southland play.
 
The Cardinals (13-10/7-3 SLC) were 28-of-59 (.475) from the field, including 11 three-pointers. Lamar was nearly as accurate from long range as they were from the field ending the night going 11-of-24 (.458). Big Red also took full advantage of its trips to the line converting 8-of-9 (.889) attempts.
 
The Cardinals also held an advantage on the glass outrebounding Nicholls, 33-29.
 
In addition to Buckley's 15 points, sophomore Cody Pennebaker scored 14 on 4-of-5 (.800) shooting from long range, while classmate B.B. Knight added 12 points and Terry Anderson netted 10 points. Junior Adam Hamilton just missed a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.
 
The Colonels were held to a 19-of-52 (.365) performance and struggled to find their rhythm from long range. Nicholls converted only five three-point attempts on the night and shot less than 22 percent. Nicholls was sent to the free throw 11 more times than LU but converted just 13 of their 20 attempts (.650).
 
Diante Smith led the Colonels effort with 15 points but was 5-of-15 from the field.
 
The Cardinals jumped out of the gates early taking an 11-point lead, 15-4, less than seven minutes into the action. The lead ballooned to 24-9 midway through the half, and it appeared the Cardinals were seeking the knockout punch early, but the fans would have to wait a little bit longer for the final blow to be delivered.
 
After falling behind by 15 points, the Colonels scored the game's next seven points to trim the deficit down to single digits with 7:46 remaining. Nicholls kept on the attack and went into the locker room down just two.
 
Nicholls opened the second half and pulled even twice in the early stages and even went to the free throw line looking to convert an and-one which would've given them their first lead since early in the contest. The free throw came up short and the Cardinals got the rebound. LU responded with consecutive threes from Anderson and never looked back. Lamar pushed the lead back to double digits at the 13:36 mark of the second half and saw the lead grow to as much as 20 points before the final score.
 
Lamar is back in action Monday when they travel to San Antonio to face UIW. The game against the league's other Cardinals will tip off at 6:30 p.m.