Lamar edges Southeastern in overtime, 79-73

BEAUMONT, Texas. – T.J. Atwood scored 34 points to lead Lamar University past the Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team, 79-73, in overtime, Wednesday night in the Southland Conference opener for both teams at the Montagne Center.

The Lions (3-6, 0-1 Southland) were led by freshman Byron Smith who scored a career-high 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting including four three pointers. LaQuan Butler added 17 points along with four assists.

“Byron is getting better very fast,” said SLU men’s head basketball coach David Kiefer. “He takes being a Division I athlete very serious. He comes into the gym every day and meets with our coaches with a note pad and takes notes from our staff and the basketball gods give back to guys like him. He is going to end up being one of the best guards in the league. And LaQuan has been working hard in practice lately. And when he plays as hard defensively as he did tonight it feeds into his playmaking ability on the offensive end. I thought he did a great job of pressuring their guards and disrupting what they were trying to do.”

Pape Diop had another solid night adding 14 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double despite playing just 25 minutes due to foul trouble.

Lamar (7-5, 1-0 Southland) jumped out to a 16-5 lead five minutes into the game. But the Lions responded with a 10-2 run to trim the Cardinals’ lead to 18-15 with 11:15 left in the first half. The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the half as Lamar lead 34-31 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Lions and Cardinals continued going back and forth as Lamar held a two-point lead, 42-40 with 17:30 remaining. However, the Cardinals surged on 9-2 run to put the Lions on their heels. 51-44.

SLU methodically worked their way back in the game going on a 12-6 run highlighted by back-to-back buckets by Nick Caldwell to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 57-56 with 9:09 to go. The Lions took their first lead of the night with 6:36 left on a three-pointer by Smith as the shot clocked expired making it, 61-59, SLU setting up a heart-stopping finish.

Atwood kept the Cardinals in the game scoring seven of the last nine points in regulation including a three-pointer with 1:10 to go giving Lamar a 69-68 lead. SLU, however, had a chance to win it with 15 seconds left. Von Julien inbounded to Diop under the basket who was fouled. Diop, a junior from Senegal, made the first free throw to tie the game but the second rimmed in and out.

The Cardinals got a chance as well as Davion Buster shot a prayer with two seconds left that nearly was good from 35 feet but hit the front iron sending the game tied at 69-69. It was the first overtime game for SLU since Feb. 15, 2016 at McNeese where the Lions won 79-76.

Unfortunately, history didn’t repeat itself as Lamar outscored Southeastern 10-4 in the extra period to pick up the win.

SLU was outrebounded 51-38 and gave up 26 second chance points on 23 offensive rebounds.

“I thought our guys responded well and competed for the entire game,” said Kiefer. “But we have got to do a better job of rebounding. We did a lot of good things tonight but it came down to not finishing plays on the glass.”

Next up, the Lions will take on Ole Miss in non-conference action Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Jackson, Mississippi.

The SEC Network, available on www.WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app, will provide a video stream of the game. Web links to video and stats are available on the basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.