Cards overcome slow start to beat ETAMU in SLC play
Leading by just one point with 24 seconds remaining in overtime, Cardinal guard Alexis Marmolejos stepped to the free throw line to shoot two free throws. The home crowd grew silent as Marmolejos knocked down both free throws to push the lead to three points. With the shot clock turned off, the Cardinals shut down the East Texas offense to win the game 61-58 in an overtime thriller.
Lamar started off the Jan. 25 matchup slowly in the Neches Federal Credit Union Arena at the Montagne Center, trailing in the first half by as many as 11 points before cutting the lead to just four going into halftime.
Less than two minutes into the second half, the Lions had built the lead up to nine points. However, the Cardinals kept chirping and clawing, never giving up before ultimately taking the lead with 15 minutes left.
”We didn’t get the flow that we wanted,” Coach Alvin Brooks said. “Then I end up putting Jayden Barrs and Errol White in the game in place of a couple of starters. And I mean, that was the key. They kind of gave us a lot more energy and kind of got us going. That was it.”
The lead would go back and forth staying a one or two possession game for the remainder of regulation. East Texas A&M received two free throws in the last 43 seconds, with the Cards up one, but the crowd in the stadium picked up the volume with ETAMU scoring just one of the free throws to end the game tied at 52.
”The energy in the crowd, our home crowd, is always tremendous, always has been,” Brooks said. “And they pulled this through for us today.”
Overtime started slow for both teams as they remained scoreless through the first minute and half. Marmolejos gave Lamar the lead with a couple of free throws. ETAMU pulled back to tie once in overtime but never gained the lead.
”We wanted to try to keep them off the three-point line.” Brooks said. “They’re a really good three-point shooting team. We wanted to try to use our defense to create a faster pace on offense, which we weren’t able to quite do that. But our defense was good enough to get stops (and) it really turned up big for us when we really needed in the second half. We got down double digits and defense got us back into it. That was our strategy just to use our defense to kind of create some pace and create some offense.”
Marmolejos finished with a game-high 24 points with four three-pointers, and went 8-10 from the free-throw line. Joining him in double figures were LU guards Cody Pennebaker and Ja’Sean Jackson with 10 points.
Errol White brought down a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench. LU forward Andrew Holifield also picked up double-digit rebounds with 10.
“ I’m ecstatic that we won and pleased that we found a way to win,” Brooks said. “I thought our defense was outstanding and energy was really good on the defensive end.”
The Cardinals are now 11-9 overall and 6-3 in Southland Conference play where they sit in fourth place.
Lamar will now turn their attention to Feb. 1 when they face off against Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. The game is set to start at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN +.
