COMMERCE – Outscoring the East Texas A&M University men's basketball team 47-28 in the second half, the Lamar Cardinals picked up an 82-61 win on Tuesday night at Neches Arena, despite five lead changes and four ties, including two lead changes in the second half.
 
This was the second meeting between the two teams, and the Cardinals took them both, while also now having won the last six meetings between the two programs. Lamar is 11-10 overall and 6-6 in Southland Conference play, while the Lions fall to 8-13 overall and 3-8 in SLC action.
 
The Lions had a slow start offensively, which allowed Lamar to score eight of the first nine points and build a 18-7 lead at the 12:36 mark. East Texas A&M started the game shooting 1 for 8 from the line, going 5 for 13 in the first half.
 
Holding the Cardinals to just one point for a stretch of three minutes allowed the Lions to put together a rally and make it 19-17 with 9:18 to go. A 5-0 run gave the Lions a 26-25 lead at the 5:49 mark on a dunk by Ronnie Harrison (Forney), which was the first lead since 1-0 for the Lions.
 
The Cardinals then scored the next nine to move back in front 34-26 with 2:45 to go in the half. The Lions ended the half on a 7-1 run, but trailed 35-33 at the break.
 
To begin the second half, the Lions kept the Cardinal within reach through the first five minutes and took a 43-41 lead with 14:42 to go.
 
Trailing 45-43 with 14:04 to go, Lamar scored the next 14 over a stretch of three minutes to take a 57-45 lead, the highest for either team to that point. Lamar had seven blocked shots in the second half.
 
The largest lead in the game for the Cardinals was 22 points, and it came with 31 seconds left in the game.
 
For the Lions, Damian Garcia (Houston – Dobie) led the way with 11 points, followed by 10 each from both Harrison and Noah Pagotto (Wollongong, Australia).
 
King-Njhsanni White led the way with 28 points for the Cardinals, who had a 49-33 rebounding advantage.
 

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The Lions return home to take on Nicholls at home on Saturday at 5 p.m. The game is part of Stem Day, presented by Fastenal. Tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/tickets.