Jacksonville president Dr. Mike Smith address the crowd before TJC's game against Lamar State-Port Arthur Tuesday afternoon at John Alexander Gymnasium in Jacksonville. 

JACKSONVILLE — A cold-shooting spell in the first half was too much for the Tyler Junior College Apaches to overcome in the first round of the Region XIV Tournament.

TJC shot 18.8 percent from the field in the first half and went scoreless for the final 7:23 before halftime in a 65-53 loss to Lamar State-Port Arthur Tuesday afternoon at John Alexander Gymnasium.

“We just shot so poorly in the first half, kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” TJC head coach Mike Marquis said. “We competed until the end and tried to play as hard as we could.”

TJC took a 7-4 lead early on with a 3-pointer by Taevon Anderson. Lamar State answered with a three by Kantrell Burney.

With the score tied at 9-9 after a bucket by Jestin Porter, Lamar State went on a 7-2 spurt to lead 18-11. Porter knocked down a jumper with 9:17 left to make the score 18-13. That was the final field goal in the first half by the Apaches. Porter made two free throws with 7:23 on the clock to cut the score to 20-15. Lamar State then went on a 10-0 run to lead 30-15 at halftime.

Lamar State was 6 of 14 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range in the first half. TJC was 6 of 32 from the field and 1 of 16 (6.25 percent) from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

Isaac Aguiar hit two free throws early in the second half. The Apaches’ next field goal was with 17:32 on the clock on a jumper by Porter. After an Aguiar jumper made the score 35-21, the Seahawks reeled off a 7-0 run.

TJC scored 14 points in the final 2:48 of the game, but time eventually ran out on the Apaches’ season.

TJC shot 48 percent (12 of 25) from the field after the break, and was 5 of 12 (41.7 percent) from three in that span.

Lamar State only hit one three in the final 20 minutes.

Porter led the Apaches (8-14) with 23 points. TJC played with just nine players on Tuesday.

Burney had 14 points for the Seahawks. Joe Lucien added 13 points.

Lamar State (8-14) will play top-seeded Trinity Valley (16-2) at 1 p.m. Thursday.

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LAMAR STATE-PORT ARTHUR 65, TYLER 53

LSPA 30 35 — 65

TJC 15 38 — 53

LAMAR STATE-PORT ARTHUR — Adrian Caldwell 1-1 1-2 3; Li’Jon Smith 1-1 3-6 5; Kanntrell Burney 5-12 2-3 14; Nash Golaszewski 1-6 2-2 5; Kobi Johnson 2-3 1-2 7; Ty Archibald 3-12 2-2 8; Joe Lucien 6-14 0-0 13; Kenyawn Bowie 1-6 1-2 3; Demond McQuain 2-3 2-5 7; Nehemiah Lewis 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 22-58 14-24 65.

TYLER — Jestin Porter 7-19 5-6 23; Enoch Fatade 2-4 2-4 6; Taevon Anderson 1-6 0-0 3; Ethan Mayes 2-3 0-0 5; Michael Perez 2-8 0-0 4; Mason Mathews 0-6 0-0 0; Isaac Aguiar 3-8 2-2 8; Angel Dibwa 0-1 0-0 0; Blessing Adespie 1-2 2-3 4; Totals 18-57 11-15 53.

REBOUNDS — LSPA 34 (Lucien 8); TJC 37 (Matthews 9).

3-POINT GOALS — LSPA 7-19 (Johnson 2-3, Burney 2-5); TJC 6-28 (Porter 4-10).

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