JONESBORO, Ark.?Lamar utilized size and athleticism to its advantage in the second half as the Cardinals pulled away from Arkansas State, 91-81, in the 77th meeting between the two schools. Isaac Wells scored a career-high 22 in the effort for the Indians.
ASU (4-5) couldn't contain the Lamar trio of Alan Daniels, Matthew Barrow and Brandon Chappell in the second half as they combined to score 39 of the Cardinal's 53 second half points. Daniels, averaging 24 points per game entering tonight's contest, led all players with 25 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to help Lamar to a 40-27 rebound advantage.
But the Indians had chances after a strong first half of keeping the Cardinals at bay. A layup by Dereke Tipler at the 10:56 mark in the second half cut the deficit to just one point at 60-59. But the Cardinals, fueled by five points from Daniels, went on a 10-1 run that seemed to take the wind out of ASU's sails.
Trailing 72-62 after Chappell's jumper inside the arc at the 6:13 mark, the Indians couldn't sustain any run offensively or enough defensive stops to climb back into the game. The LU lead swelled to as many as 14 before settling on the final difference of 10 points.
Lamar (5-4) owned the rebounds in the second half by routinely out-jumping the Indians for missed shots. The taller Cardinal squad outrebounded the Indians 23-12 in the second half, helping LU to an 18-4 advantage in second-chance points.
ASU got another solid game from the interior players of Isaac Wells, Marcus Ardison and Kitus Witherpoon. The trio combined for 51 points and hit 19 of 29 shots from the field. Wells paced the Indians with a career-high 22 points to go along with his seven boards and two blocked shots. Ardison chipped in another solid performance with 17 points and Witherspoon came off the bench to score 12 of 5 of 6 shooting.
Free throw shooting was part of ASU's undoing on the night, a primary culprit of a first-half 16 point lead evaporating into a three point edge at halftime. As a team the Indians connected on just 14 of 28 from the charity stripe and shot better from the field (54.5 percent) than from the free throw line (50 percent).
The game started with a roar for the Indians as the ball bounced their way from the start. With ASU leading 16-11 at the 14:03 mark of the first half, the Indians jumped out by 16 during a 12-1 run, keyed by a pair of 3's from Brandon Ballard and six points from Witherspoon.
From there, Lamar began chipping away at the ASU lead before settling on a 41-38 ASU advantage at the break.
