Saturday, February 3rd, The Cougars played the Lamar State Seahawks in a Region XIV Conference contest. The game started out slowly for both teams, but Lamar State executed well offensively. The Seahawks gained extra possessions off of rebounds which helped them maintain a lead. Coastal Bend would do a nice job defensively, to make stops and keep themselves with striking distance. With the good stops defensively, the Cougars would get out in transition and capitalize on the empty possessions of the Seahawks. The Cougars had a collective team effort scoring and defensively to keep the game close at halftime, only down by four points on the road, 31-35.
The turning point of the game was within the first five minutes of the second half, as Coastal Bend was able get consecutive defensive stops, some steals to help get into the lead. Coastal Bend would end up taking momentum from Lamar State and control the second half, outscoring them by 15 points. The Cougars won the game, 88-77. Coastal Bend was able to get Malik Amos going, shooting four of six from deep. Amos was the high point man of the game with 28, to go with his four rebounds. Dajuan Madden finished the game with 23 points with eight rebounds, five assists and six steals on the defensive end of the floor for Coastal Bend. Rashon Thomas also had himself a nice game with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Coastal Bend Big Man, Edmond Franklin has another solid game with eight points, six rebounds, and three blocked shots. The Cougars found a great outing from the bench, as they conjointly hit the trifecta of 10's with 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 points.
Carliss Robinson, Coastal Bend College Head Men's Basketball Coach stated "They are a well-coached team that knows how to play the game. Offensively we were able to come and score and pull out the win. Our bench stepped up their game and really came together as a unit." Robinson continued, "I thought we had great team production as a whole. Especially on defense when we were able to stop Lamar State on consecutive possessions in the second half to help us gain momentum. This was a big road win for us, especially in this tough conference.
Coastal Bend's next game will be at home, as they host Angelina College, Wednesday February 7th at 7:00 PM.