A sprint to the finish for the Seahawks came up short Wednesday night as Kilgore College carried a 77-71 win home from Port Arthur's Carl Parker Multipurpose Center.
Kilgore improved to 4-1 this season while the Seahawks fell to 2-3.
Kanntrell Burney finished with 26 points to lead LSCPA, which trailed by 17 points, 69-52 with 5:15 left in the game. Ty Archibald was the only other double-figure scorer for the hosts, finishing with 16 points.
The Seahawks travel to Brenham Saturday for a 4 p.m. game at No. 134-ranked Blinn College. Their next home game is at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, against Paris Junior College.
The shots weren't falling for LSCPA, which hit only 35.2% (25 of 71) from the floor, compared to 50% (25 of 50) for the Rangers, who were led by 15 points from point guard K.J. Jenkins and 13 points from 6-foot-8 freshman Da'Sean Nelson.
The Seahawks' big man, 6-foot-7 freshman Joe Lucien, sat out most of the first half after being tagged with two fouls in the game's first 62 seconds. He finished with 6 points and 2 rebounds after playing most of the second half.
Freshman Nash Golaszewski scored 8 points for the Hawks, including a 3-pointer with just under 3 minutes left to ignite a run to within 4 points, 75-71, with 5 ticks left.
Burney, who hit 5 of 13 from beyond the bonus arc, contributed 7 points to the run. Golaszewski added a steal and slam and Lucien went end-to-end off a feed from Kobi Johnson.
Down by five, 39-34, at the half, the Seahawks got within 2, 48-46 with 16:40 remaining, after a 3-ball and a snappy turnaround jumper both by Archibald, both with assists by Li'jon Smith. From there, the Rangers went on a 19-4 run to lead by 17, 67-50, with 6:42 left.
There were nine lead changes and four ties in the first half. The Seahawks led 34-33 after Archibald's 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the first but the Rangers finished the half on a 6-0 run.
Jenkins led Kilgore with nine points at the half and he was backed up in scoring by 6-8 forwards Nelson and Stephan Morris, each scoring eight.
