Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT – Less than 48 hours after recording an impressive victory over Texas Southern, the Lamar men’s basketball team will look to make it two wins in a row Friday when they step on the court against Howard Payne.

The win over Texas Southern put an end to a small two-game slide and erased the memory of the Cards’ 1-4 record on its most recent road swing. The Cardinals now stand just a game under .500 with a 5-6 (.455) mark on the season and will be home for two more before opening Southland Conference play at the start of the New Year.

The Cardinals will now put their perfect 4-0 home record on the line Friday against Howard Payne. The Yellow Jackets have had a tough start to the 2018-19 season. An extremely young squad (14 players are either freshmen or sophomores), HPU enters the week with a 2-10 (.167) overall record and look to put a stop to a four-game slide. Friday’s game will be the team’s first in six days, and the Yellow Jackets are looking for their first win in nearly a month.

The Cardinals step into the non-conference contest ranked fourth in the Southland averaging nearly 75 points per game. Big Red’s offense is paced by senior Josh Nzeakor who is coming off a double-double (19 points and 13 rebounds) against Texas Southern, but classmate Nick Garth is coming off one of the best performances in program history. The Houston native scored a career-high 36 points on a near perfect 8-of-9 (.889) shooting from three-point range.

Through their first 12 games of the season, HPU is being outscored by 19 points per game while averaging just 63 points per game. The Yellow Jackets are also being outrebounded by three on the year. HPU enters the week with only one player averaging in double-figures – senior Shadd Cole (15.6 ppg). Cole has hit double digits in all but two games this season including two 20-point outings and a season-high 29-point performance.