By Kyle Nickell

Cooper Sports Network

PASADENA – San Jacinto clinched the Region XIV regular season title with a wire-to-wire 98-80 win over Lamar State College Port Arthur on Saturday.

The win also carries an automatic berth to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., for the No. 3 nationally-ranked Ravens.

San Jacinto rode the hot shooting of Jorden Duffy and Tay Hardy in the first half as they combined for 24 points and five three-pointers. The Ravens scored the first 8 points of the game and never trailed in the contest.

After the Seahawks pulled within 4, a long Duffy three would extend the lead to 20-13 with 11:25 left in the opening half. A Hardy three-pointer extended the margin to 14, and the Seahawks came back with a three-point play from Cameron Frank to cut the deficit to 31-20 with 7:05 left.

But San Jacinto would continue to add to the lead with an Elton Dyer three, pushing the lead to 17. TWo Duffy free throws would give the Ravens their largest lead of the game at 48-27 with 2:40 to go in the half. Lamar State finished the half on an 8-3 run to close within 16.

The Seahawks found early success in the second half with Petar Radojicic in the post, as he scored 8 points to keep his in range of the lead. A Duffy leaner pushed the margin back to 18 with just under 17 minutes left, and after a 5-0 Seahawk run, the Ravens answered with 7 consecutive points to extend the margin to 69-49.

John Comeaux, who finished with a game-high 25 points, hit a three with 11:06 left in the game to pull Lamar State within 17.

The closest Lamar State would get would be 13 as a Bradley Ficken bucket off of a offensive rebound trimmed the score to 87-74. The Ravens finished the game with a James Kirksey steal and three-point play to provide the final margin.

Comeaux and Radojicic were the only Seahawks to reach double figures with 25 and 24 respectively.

San Jacinto placed four players in double figures led by Duffy with 20.