Nov. 23, 2011

Current Game Notes

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Lamar University will look for its third straight win, including second in a row on the road, Friday evening at 7 p.m. when the Cardinals face Tennessee Tech in a non-conference basketball game from the Eblen Center.

The Cardinals, who improved to 3-2 on the year with their 80-69 win at UT Martin on Tuesday, will be facing their second straight Ohio Valley Conference opponent. The Golden Eagles are coming off a 62-57 overtime win at High Point that evened their record at 2-2 on the year.

Lamar is 2-5 all-time against current teams from the OVC. The Cards are now 1-0 against UT Martin, 1-1 against Austin Peay, 0-3 against Murray State and 0-1 against Morehead State.

Lamar shot a season-high 60.9 percent from the floor in its win at UT Martin, including a sparkling 71.4 percent in the second half. The Cards led 34-29 at halftime, and never let its lead drop before four points in the second half as they won by 11.

The Cardinals limited UT Martin to 42.9 percent shooting in the game, and outscored the Skyhawks 20-9 in points off turnovers. Lamar did a great job in transition defense, not allowing the Skyhawks to score a single fast break point.

Senior wing player Devon Lamb matched his career-high with 23 points against the Skyhawks, hitting am impressive 9-of-10 field goal attempts. Lamb also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists in 32 minutes of work.

The Cardinals also got an 18-point effort from senior guard Anthony Miles, and 13 points and seven rebounds from Charlie Harper.

Through five games, the Cardinals are scoring 68.6 points per game on offense and giving up 67.6. Even after Tuesday's strong shooting performance, Lamar is hitting just 39.8 percent of its field goal attempts and 29.3 percent from 3-point range. The Cardinals do rank third in the Southland Conference in free throw percentage at 70.9 percent.

Behind Harper and Lamb, the Cardinals are pulling down 41.2 rebounds per game which is nearly three and a half rebounds per game better than their opponents. Harper leads the conference in rebounding at 9.8 per game, and Lamb ranks ninth at 7.6 per game.

Harper also leads the team in scoring at 14.0 points per game. Miles is averaging 13.6 ppg, and Lamb is now at 11.4 ppg. Senior guard Brandon Davis is leading the reserves at 9.2 points per game off the LU bench.

Tennessee Tech returns 11 letterwinners and four starters off of last year's 20-13 team which advanced to the College Insider's Tournament. Included in the list of returnees is Kevin Murphy, the preseason OVC Player of the Year. However, the Golden Eagles do have a new head coach as former associate head coach Steve Payne took over in the offseason for Mike Sutton.

Tech is averaging 69.2 points per game on offense while allowing 64.5. As a team, the Golden Eagles are shooting 45.5 percent from the floor, 34.0 percent from 3-point range and 66.3 percent from the free throw line.

Murphy is currently the leading scorer at 17.5 points per game, adding 5.3 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-7 guard also leads the team with eight 3-pointers made. Junior guard Jud Dillard is second on the team in scoring at 16.3 ppg, and has been a terror on the glass with a 9.3 rebounds per game average. Senior guard Zac Swansey is the other double-figure scorer for Tech at 11.3 ppg. Swansey is also doling out a team-best 3.7 assists per game.

LAMAR