By GERRY L. DICKERT
Sports Information Director
Character is a trait built over time, and adversity is a critical aspect of growing as a person, as an athlete, and as a team.
Indeed, Lamar State College Port Arthur's basketball team has faced its share of adversity during the early part of the 2024-25 season. But, as evidenced over the Seahawks' past two games, that adversity has helped create a team dedicated to a unified effort to become champions.
The Seahawks, who compete in NJCAA Region 14, are now 4-8 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Five of those eight losses came to teams ranked among the Top 25 in the nation.
That record, however, tells very little about how a group of young men who were literal strangers just four months ago, have grown together to become a potential threat to take a league championship this season.
"We had one player coming back from last season, so we were basically building from scratch," LSCPA Head Coach Lance Madison said. "It's no simple task to have these guys meet for the first time and to challenge them to trust one another completely. It takes time and a shared experience to build that trust among one another."
That trust, and the amalgamation of talent and leadership, are beginning to show with the Seahawks' first conference win coming against Blinn College on the road, 82-76. This past Saturday, the Hawks came within a hair of erasing a double-digit first half deficit to overcome perennial Region 14 power Tyler Junior College, falling just short at 77-75 at the Carl Parker Center.
"We got down early and had to fight out way back and we were right there at the end," Coach Madison said. "It would have been easy to give up and just let it go as another loss but our guys never quit. It was inspiring to watch. After the game, there was no shame in the loss because they knew, and our coaching staff knew, that they left everything they had on the floor."
The Seahawks are off for about three weeks for the Winter Break, returning to face Navarro College on the road on January 4. That Saturday game tips off at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast live at www.lamarstateseahawks.com.
A trio of guards lead the Hawks statistically, each scoring in double figures, led by Andre Walker II, who is hitting 13.2 points per game as LSCPA averages 78.3 ppg this year. Walker, a 5-foot-9 sophomore from Houston, has scored better than 20 points three times this season, including a 25-point game against Gulf Coast State College. He hit six 3-pointers in that game. He also leads the team with 3.1 assists per game.
Ke'Andre Jones, a 6-6 sophomore from Port Arthur, averages 12 points a game with his best game coming against Tyler where he scored 16 points. Darel Reece, a 6-2 sophomore from The Woodlands, averages 11.2 points per game. His top performance was against Gulf Coast State College when he scored 23 points.
"You'll see this team continue to come together and get stronger when we get back to business after the break," Madison said. "By the time the regional tournament comes around in March, we'll be as competitive as anyone in the conference."