By I.C. Murrell
Courtesy The Port Arthur News
ic.murrell@panews.com
ORIGINAL STORY
Tevin Baker left his mark at the Carl Parker Center on sophomore day.
Playing his final home game at Lamar State College Port Arthur, the Port Arthur native who prepped at Kelly Catholic shot 7 of 9 from the floor and had a game-high 19 points — as did fellow Port Arthuran Darion Chatman — in the Seahawks' 84-69 win over Jacksonville College on Saturday.
"This is my last time playing in Port Arthur in front of my people," Baker said. "Wherever I go next year, I will always remember this day because this was my best college game I believe I ever played, and this is exactly what I wanted when I woke up this morning."
The win meant a tie for second place in the South Zone for the Seahawks (19-11, 9-8 in Region XIV South Zone), but they will go into the Region XIV tournament as a No. 3 seed. Angelina College beat Lee College 69-54 to earn the No. 2 seed, meaning Lamar State will play in the 8 p.m. Tuesday game against the Bossier Parish Community College (19-11, 7-11), the sixth seed from the East Zone.
"I don't care if we get a bye or not, we're going to run the tournament and we're going to hoop," Baker said. "That's what I believe. We're going to make some noise."
Jacksonville (20-10, 10-7) had already clinched the South and will play either Trinity Valley Community College or Lee at 6 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Just before the grand parade of Mardi Gras Southeast Texas near campus, Lamar State had much for which to be thankful. After sophomores Alex Williams, Devin Ellis, Nathan Bailey, Colin Just and Baker were honored postgame, the Seahawks invited their fans to a prayer circle that Ellis led. Many made their way afterward to the second floor of the Carl Parker Center to greet MGST grand parade marshal Jamaal Charles, an NFL running back from Port Arthur.
The Seahawks' own festivities began with a 29-5 spurt through the first 10 minutes, 17 seconds. Jacksonville did not make a field goal until 6:41 into the game.
"Credit to the players," Seahawks coach Lance Madison said. "I thought they were engaged the whole time. We knew coming into the game, we were going to have to move our feet, not foul and keep them out of the paint. The guys bought into the scouting report and were focused. We got a really good start to the game."
Lamar State shot 28 for 56 (50 percent) for the game and held Jacksonville to 19 of 53 (35.8 percent). The Seahawks made 8 of 16 three-pointers and shot 20 of 27 in free throws (74.1 percent). The Jaguars were only 3 for 17 (17.6 percent) from three-point range and 28 for 39 at the line (71.8 percent).
Lamar State led 46-31 and Jacksonville came within no closer than 12 points in the second half.
Chatman finished one point shy of his career high of 20 against Lone Star College-Tomball in December. He finished in single digits each of the next 13 games but has totaled 14 or more points in the three games since.
"My teammates just told me to slow down and relax and play my game," Chatman said. "When I play my game, that's usually when I'm on top. Without them, I wouldn't have played as good as I played today."
Devaughn Thomas scored 12 points and pulled down six rebounds, and Alex Williams and Devin Ellis each had eight points for the Seahawks. Jordan Mitchell led and Christopher Coley led Jacksonville with 12 points apiece and Jermaine Drewey added 10.