No. 2 Generals roll No. 11 Rams, finish Champions Classic with two wins

Fort Worth, Texas – The No. 2 LSUA men’s basketball team made a solid statement about where it stands in the NAIA as the Generals finished off the Texas Wesleyan Champions Classic with two wins after a convincing 102-77 victory over the host and 11th-ranked Rams Friday afternoon at the Sid Richardson Center.

The first half of the game was filled with a flurry of fouls as the two teams combined for 34 total fouls, leading to a combined 40 made free throws on 44 attempts in the first 20 minutes alone. It was at the line where Texas Wesleyan scored the game’s first six points to take a 6-0 lead just more than two minutes into the game to notch what would be their largest lead in the contest.

After swapping buckets to give the Rams their largest lead again at 8-2, LSUA got a quick 7-0 punch to take their first lead of the contest as William Claiborne got a steal and rumbled all the way down the court for a transition lay-up and a 9-8 Generals lead with 16 minutes left in the first half.

Over the next five minutes, the two teams swapped the lead seven times and tied the score three times. However, when Mikkel Norment sank a long distance three-pointer with just more than 11 minutes remaining, the lead switched hands for the final time as the Generals took a 20-18 lead. That three-pointer was the start of a run of three-straight from above the arc hit by the Generals to turn an 18-17 deficit into a 26-18 lead thanks to the long-distance shooting of Norment, Jordan Adebutu, and Brandon Ellis.

The run would expand out to a 15-2 spurt to give the Generals the first double-digit lead of the contest as Chris Vickers went four of four from the charity stripe in one trip to bump the LSUA advantage to 32-20 with nine minutes left in the first half.

LSUA continued to slowly open the lead to a peak of 18 points in the first stanza as JaMichael Brown got open for a three-pointer to make the score 48-30 with 4:30 left in the period. But when facing a top-15 team on their home floor, a run by the Rams to get back in the game was expected. After the two teams traded two pointers, the Rams scored 15 of the period’s last 21 points to cut the deficit all the way down to a 56-47 LSUA lead at the half.

Out of the break, the Rams continued to whittle down the Generals lead, cutting it all the way down to six points at 58-52 on a bucket by Rob Thomas just two minutes into the second half.

That’s where the Generals took full control of the contest, scoring the next five points to get the lead back in double-digit territory to stay on a Chris Vickers three-pointer, blowing the game open with a 27-9 run over the a 10:15 span to take an 85-61 lead as Claiborne found a cutting Devin Jackson for a lay-up with 7:15 left in the contest. The LSUA lead would not dip below 20 points for the remainder of the contest, peaking at 27 points with 3:30 left as Malek Harris got into the paint and scored for a 97-70 lead, cruising from there for the win.

“We’re happy to be coming home with two wins against two really good teams in a major tournament-type event,” said LSUA head coach Larry Cordaro. “Our players rose to the occasion in their first true road game of the year, playing championship-quality basketball when I felt we really needed it. Hats off to our reserves today, who really stepped up when we got into some early foul trouble and kept things clicking, picking up the players who had to sit. Texas Wesleyan put on a really good event with four real quality teams, but we’re ready to get home in front of our fans with some top flight opponents coming in to continue to challenge us.”

Seven different Generals scored in double figures, led by JaMichael Brown who finished with a game high 17 points on six of 12 shooting, including a pair of made three-pointers, to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Malek Harris came off the bench to score 16 points, making six of the eight shots he took including his only three-point attempt. Brandon Ellis finished with 13 points on five makes, three from deep. Chris Vickers scored 12 points on three makes, one a three-pointer. Phillip Rankin finished with 11 points on five of nine from the field, including a three. William Claiborne and Rickey Brice, Jr. each scored ten points in the contest while Brice also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

LSUA shot 50% from the field in the win while holding Texas Wesleyan to 33.9% overall. From above the three-point arc, the Generals shot 40.7%, but it was an off-shooting night for the Rams (1-1), who hit only 10% from deep, hitting just two of their 20 attempts from long range. At the free throw line, LSUA was 21 of 23 while Texas Wesleyan was 35 of 41 from the charity stripe.

The 2nd-ranked Generals (3-0) was the only team to win both of its games at the Champions Classic, which featured four teams all within the top 15 of the Preseason NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, three of which were also inside the Top 10. LSUA defeated #1 The Master’s 94-87 in the Classic on Thursday. Now the Generals will come home for three-straight games, all against teams inside the Top 25. The first will be this Wednesday, November 7th, as the 10th-ranked William Carey comes to Alexandria. Tip off against the #10 Crusaders (0-0) is set for 7:00 P.M. in The Fort.