Lamar Halts Road Losing Streak With 89-86 Win At UCA In Overtime :: Cardinals leave Conway with second-consecutive win

Jan. 24, 2008

CONWAY, Ark. - It took an extra five minutes but for the second-straight game, the Lamar University basketball team came away with a victory. This time it came in the form of a gutsy, 89-86, road win over Central Arkansas at the Farris Center Thursday night.

Lamar led by as many as nine early in the second half but some missed opportunities down the stretch and at the end of regulation allowed UCA to tie the game at 79 with 35 tics left in regulation. The Cardinals had a chance to ice the game with 2.7 seconds to play but Jay Brown missed two free throws and the teams went to the extra session.

After trading seven scores to open the overtime, Lamar took an 89-86 lead thanks to a Lamar Sanders layup and free throws from Kenny Dawkins and Currye Todd, with Todd's coming with two seconds left that allowed UCA one final shot to extend the game. But Ryan Williams' running shot over Dawkins from 40 feet out caromed off the top right corner of the backboard, allowing the Cards their first road win over the season and snapping their eight-game losing skid away from Beaumont.

"It was a hard game," according to Lamar coach Steve Roccaforte. "I thought our guys stepped up big time. Currye Todd, Darren Hopkins and Jay Brown all played well. I thought our guys did what they had to do to win the game and it was a hard game on the road."

Hopkins finished with a season-high 20 points with 14 coming after halftime. Sanders also turned it on after the first 20 minutes. After scoring just two points on a pair of free throws, he netted 16 on 7-of-8 shooting and tallied his third double-double with a season-best 14 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end that he personally turned into nine points - with four in overtime.

Todd tied his season-high with four 3-pointers in the first half and he tied his season-best with 17 points. Dawkins added 10 points and played the final 13 minutes with four fouls.

The win marked the first time since the 1999-2000 season that a Lamar squad has won two overtime games in the same season. The game also marked just the second time in school history that a Cardinal group has played consecutive overtime games. In 1996-97 LU played extra basketball in three-straight games and four of five during that stretch.

Lamar (9-8, 3-1 Southland) now sits alone in first place in the conference as it heads to Northwestern State (7-12, 3-2) on Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest at Prather Coliseum.

UCA (11-8, 1-4) dropped its fourth-straight game despite outshooting Lamar 50 percent to 43 percent.

The Cardinals' pressure caused problems for the Bears for much of the contest. UCA committed 20 miscues that Lamar converted into 25 points.

With UCA leading 25-21 and 8:34 to play in the half, Lamar went on a 13-4 run over the next five minutes to claim a 34-29 lead. Todd made two of his four 3-pointers during the run as he finished the half with 14 points. The Cardinals took a 42-35 lead into the locker room when Matthew Barrow made a three from the corner as time expired.

Lamar shot just 40 percent compared to 50 percent for UCA but used steady pressure throughout the half and forced the Bears into 12 turnovers which translated into 16 points.

After Lamar stretched its lead to nine points on a Barrow 3-pointer, UCA got consecutive fast-break baskets from Marcus Pillow - on a 3-pointer - and York Sims to trim the LU lead to 48-45.