Lamar State College Port Arthur's Devaughn Thomas scored 24 points in the first half en route to a 28-point, 13-rebound performance, while teammate Kanntrell Burney scored 15 points in the second half on his way to a 17-point showing for the Seahawks in an 86-76 win over Paris Junior College on Wednesday night.
The NJCAA Region 14 win improves the Seahawks' record to 2-4 in conference and 8-9 overall while Paris falls to 2-4 and 7-8. The win represents the first time LSCPA has defeated the Dragons in Paris during the Lance Madison head coaching era.
"Before the game, I told the guys that I had never won up here in Paris. As soon as I said that, they looked at me and said 'Coach, that's going to change tonight.' I'm just proud of them," Madison said.
In spite of the nearly six-hour bus ride and a delay of more than an hour as the Paris women's game went into double-overtime, the Seahawks looked spry and ready to play from the first tip.
The Dragons took a 2-0 lead but quickly relinquished that advantage and the Hawks never looked back, rolling up a double-digit lead of as many as 16 in the second half.
"It was a great overall team win for us. We were engaged for the full 40 minutes," Madison said. "We kept them off the glass and executed on the offensive end."
The first half belonged to sophomore Thomas who hit 8 of 10 from the field with a 3-pointer and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line to amass 24 points over the first 20 minutes of the game.
"Devaughn did a great job tonight," Madison said. "He was disappointed with his performance against Kilgore back at home (10 points, 1 rebound in an 82-72 loss on Jan. 6), so he had something to prove coming in here tonight. He was really strong on the board and very efficient with his shooting."
Ultimately, he finished 10 of 12 from the floor with 13 boards for his fourth double-double performance of the 2019-20 season.
Burney, a freshman guard, collected his third double-figuring scoring performance in four games after hitting 6 of 11 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from beyond the 3-point line for his 17-point total.
"Kanntrell played a great game tonight. He was close to home tonight - he's from the Dallas area (Skyline High School) - and he had some family here tonight. I was really happy to see him break out the way he did," Madison said. "The guys did a great job of encouraging him and getting him the ball. It was his day to shine."
The Hawks return to conference play with their final cross-division game of the season when they travel to Corsicana to take on Navarro College this Saturday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are coming off a 98-64 league victory over winless Victoria College, moving Navarro to 4-2 in conference and 10-7 overall.