March 8, 2005
Contact: Rick Nixon, 210-458-4551
Anthony's 34 points too much as Lamar ends UTSA's season with 91-83 victory
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO - Raymond Anthony scored 34 points and fueled a late Lamar rally as the Cardinals scored a 91-83 victory over UTSA, ending the Roadrunners season in the first round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts/Southland Conference Tournament played before 1,319 fans at the Convocation Center.
Anthony combined with Alan Daniels for 61 points in the game, as Daniels chipped in 27 points of his own. Josh Goodwin added 13 points off of the bench for Lamar, which improved to 18-10 with the win and will now play at Northwestern State in the Tournament semifinals.
UTSA, which ends the season with a 15-13 record, was paced by Justin Harbert's 24 points, while John Millsap added 20, and Rapheal Posey, 18. The loss to Lamar was the third straight suffered by UTSA at the hands of the Cardinals this season.
Trailing by as many as six points in the second half, UTSA had rallied behind the outside shooting of Harbert to lead 81-77 after a Harbert 15-foot jump shot with 2:27 to play.
The Cardinals ended the game on a 14-2 run as Anthony took over, scoring 10 consecutive points to give Lamar an 87-83 lead with 14 seconds remaining. His 3-point field goal out of the right corner had given the Cardinals the lead for good, 82-81, with 1:24 left to play.
UTSA's only points over the final 2:27 came at the free throw line as Posey connected on two free throws with 36 seconds left that cut the Lamar lead to 84-83. The Roadrunners missed six consecutive shots down the stretch, with four of the misses behind the 3-point line.
"We were never able to get a good grasp on this game," said UTSA coach Tim Carter. "I thought we had many times when it seemed like the game was going to go our way, but that was when Anthony or Daniels would step up and make a huge shot to turn the momentum back around. There is not much you can say right now that helps to make our players feel better. When the season ends like this, everyone is disappointed."
The Roadrunners had trailed at halftime by a 43-37 count as Daniels had 13 first half points. Millsap had 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes as well.
Lamar shot 45.7 percent from the field and held UTSA to 27 of 72 shooting (37.5%) for the game. The Roadrunners did not help themselves at the free throw line, connecting on only 21 of 33. UTSA also had 18 turnovers in the game.
Anthony played all 40 minutes in the game and connected on 10 of 25 shots from the field, which included five 3-point field goals.
The game marked the final appearances by a talented UTSA senior class that included Harbert, Millsap, Posey, Anthony Fuqua and David President. All five were key members of UTSA's run to the 2004 SLC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.