Lamar State begins season Monday at home

[LamarStatesports]

The Lamar State College-Port Arthur men’s basketball team kicks off their sixth season of intercollegiate competition next Monday and Tuesday with back-to-back non-conference games against Southern University-Shreveport and Lone Star College-Kingwood.

Southern U comes to Port Arthur on Monday for a 7 p.m. tipoff in the Carl Parker Center.

Lamar State is on the road Tuesday for a 4 p.m. matchup in Kingwood.

The Seahawks had only nine wins overall and two conference wins this past season in their first Division I campaign. One of those wins was the season opener in Shreveport, where the Seahawks handed the SU-S its first home loss since 2004.

Lamar State’s first-year head coach Matt Cross expects his team to post a much improved mark this year.

“I was pleased to see this young group go undefeated in our preseason scrimmage games,” Cross said. “The guys are working really hard every day to improve. So, hopefully, we can carry our momentum into the regular season.”

In addition to the two opening games, the Seahawks have five other non-conference games before beginning Region XIV play Nov. 21 at home against Lon Morris College, last season’s regular season conference champion.

Five of Lamar State’s first seven games are at home.

“We are fortunate to have the majority of our non-conference games at home in front of our fans,” Cross said. “We welcome everyone to come out and watch some exciting college basketball this year in the Parker Center.”

Lamar State will close out the first week of the season by hosting the first annual Seahawk Classic Tournament, which includes Coastal Bend College, Lone Star College-Kingwood and the Dallas Diesel, an all-star team from the Dallas metro area.

[LamarStatesports]

First-year head basketball coach Matt Cross' tenure at Lamar State College-Port Arthur had an impressive start Monday night, when the Seahawks opened the season at home in the Carl Parker Center with a 101-79 win over Southern University-Shreveport.

Lamar State pulled ahead by 10 points early in the contest, but the Port City Jaguars recovered and closed to four points but never could take the lead.

The Seahawks led by 12 points, 41-29, at halftime, led by starting guard Kavon Rose with 13 points.

Lamar State took control early in the second half. Southern U made a short comeback fueled by a swarming full-court press. But the Seahawks pulled away and led by 28 points near the middle of the half and coasted from there to win by 22 points.

Rose and starting forward Leviante Davis led Lamar State's scoring with 23 points each. Reserve forward Roman Vaughn contributed 15 points and starting guard Von Jones added 10 points.

Brian Staffore led Southern U with 18 points, while LaMario Harris and Darien Davis had 14 points and 12 points, respectively.

The Seahawks are back in action Tuesday in a 4 p.m. non-conference matchup at Lone Star College-Kingwood.

Lamar State will be home Friday and Saturday to host the first annual Port Arthur Rotary Seahawks Classic Tournament, which also features Coastal Bend College, Lone Star College-Kingwood and the Dallas Diesel, an all-star team from the greater Dallas area.

[tickedoffgranny30]

I heard Nick Walters went 4-4 from the 3 point line?

[LamarStatesports]

Nick actually had three 3's for 9 points against Southern U.

He hit back-to-back treys midway through the second half to help the Seahawks break out of the full-court press being put on them by the Port City Jaguars.

Everyone on the team scored on the first night of the season, and four players were in double figures.

Check out my post (coming up after I finish this one) about the Tuesday night win at Lone Star College-Kingwood, where five Seahawks hit for double digit points.

Lamar State has very good talent all the way down the roster from the starters to the reserves. If they are successful this season it will be because of a team effort rather than a couple of stars.