After going on the road and coming within five points of beating a couple of top 20-ranked teams over the weekend, the Lamar State College Port Arthur Seahawks fell short again in a home game against LSU-Eunice on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
LSU-E moved to 5-0 for the season with an 85-71 win over the Seahawks at the Carl Parker Center in Port Arthur.
LSCPA dropped to 2-3 on the season. It returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday, hosting Baton Rouge Community College.
"Hats off to LSU-Eunice," Seahawks head coach Lance Madison said. "I thought they came in and played a good game. They showed more effort than us.
"We just didn't have it tonight."
To his credit, Madison said bringing up the Seahawks' 84-80 loss to No. 21 Clarendon College Friday and 66-65 to No. 6-ranked South Plains College, was "just an excuse."
"It was such an emotional game Saturday against South Plains," the coach said. "Sometimes when you have an emotional game like that, you're a little drained the next game."
For whatever reason, LSCPA led by one point twice in the very early going – the last lead was 6-5 – and the Bengals never trailed in the final 37 minutes.
Guard Jevon Berry led the Bengals with 22 points, including a game-high three 3-pointers, and picked off seven rebounds.
Port Arthur sophomore Jamyus Jones led the Seahawks with 16 points. Teammate Terrance Minor scored 13 and both Darion Chatman and J'son Brooks scored 12 each.
LSU-E outshot the Seahawks 45.9 percent to 38.8 percent and dominated the rebounding 54-33. The Bengals picked off 15 offensive rebounds.
"They killed us on the offensive boards," Madison said. "When they did miss a shot they got the offensive rebound and extended the play."
Cisse led the Bengals to a 39-32 point halftime lead.
The Seahawks battled back from an 11-point, 25-14, deficit with about 7 minutes left in the first half to tie the game 27-all on a 13-2 run led by Port Arthur sophomore Jamyus Jones.
Jones scored a team-high eight points in the opening half, with Thomas adding seven points.
The Bengals outscored LSCPA 10-3 in the final 2:37 of the first half, after the teams were tied 29-all.
The Seahawks got within three points at 40-37 on a 3-pointer by Brooks early in the second half. But the Bengals responded with a 13-1 run to take a 54-38, 15-point, lead five minutes into the second half.
