win against Huston-Tillotson in the season-opener in the Montagne Center,
Tuesday. UP photo by Abigail Pennington
The Lamar Cardinals basketball team opened their 2018-2019 season defeating the Huston-Tillotson University Rams, 79-59, Tuesday in the Montagne Center.
“Obviously, we’ve got a good basketball team, but we’ve got some kinks to work out,” LU head coach Tic Price said. “We are not consistent. When we’ve got teams down we need to make sure we keep it that way.”
The Cardinals opened the game with a 17-0 run making sure the Rams were disposed of with little problem. The Cardinals pushed their lead to as much as 24 points (38-14) with 5:52 remaining in the half before a 22 point-lead, 44-22, into the locker room.
“We did a good job defensively in the first half,” Price said. “We held them to 22 percent from the field. We gave up a few buckets tonight that we were a half step slow on, and we lost some balls tonight that we work hard in practice to recover.”
The Cardinals were 16-of-30 (53 percent) from the field, 7-of-16 for three pointers, and made 100 percent of their free throws in the first half. However, the Cardinals struggled from the free throw line in the second half with 38 percent.
In the second half the Rams came to play defensively after struggling in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Rams cut into the lead to 15 (64-49) with less than six minutes remaining, converting 13-of-30 (.433) attempts.
The Rams comeback was led by guard Courtney Julien who scored 12 points during the run, but Lamar did not allow the Rams to get any closer.
As a team, the Cardinals shot nearly 52 percent from the field and shot at least 50 percent in each half. LU also was 10-of-25 (.400) on three-point attempts and dominated on the boards with a 45-29 rebounding advantage.
“I realize that we won by 20, but at the end of the day I believe we had some breakdowns,” Price said.“We’ve got to make sure we clean that up, too. Offensive execution is what I am looking for in the opening game. Defensively, I want to see us be more consistent with our stops.”
The Cardinals were led by senior forward Josh Nzeakor who had a game-high 19 points, as well as nine rebounds.
“We know there are areas that we need to clean up,” Nzeakor said. “We just wanted to get some good chemistry going. We definitely pride ourselves in being a long, athletic team — this is a good transition for us.”
Junior guard Nick Garth came off the bench to record 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting, and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Junior guard Jordan Hunter scored 11 points and dished out three assists, and junior guard Mike Kolawole added 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Cardinals hit the road Friday at 6:30 p.m., when they travel to Atlanta, Ga., to face the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets in McCamish Pavilion.
“We need to come out with a win by any means necessary,” Price said. “They are much bigger than we are and we’ve got to use our speed and quickness to counter that. In this next game, we need to make our shots and limit our turnovers.”
Story by Cade Smith, UP staff writer
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