PORT ARTHUR — In the blink of an eye, Lamar State College-Port Arthur found itself trailing to Navarro 18-1.

But as the rest of Saturday's game at the Carl Parker Center played itself out before a screaming mob of Seahawk supporters, Lamar State proved why it stands alone in first place in the NJCAA Region 14.

The Hawks, who improve to 8-1 in conference play and 17-4 overall, battled on defense and converted Navarro turnovers into a 64-63 win over the Bulldogs.

"Navarro plays harder than anyone in the conference and I was a little afraid of that," said Seahawks coach Matt Cross. "If we can find a way to play as hard as those guys then we'll be champions of this league."

Navarro, now 13-8 overall and 5-5 in Region 14 play, came to Port Arthur with an upset on its mind and the Bulldogs nearly pulled it off thanks to James Thomas and Jonathon Benn. Between the two, the Bulldogs were able to push out to an 18-1 lead with 13:45 left in the first half.

That's when Seahawks sophomore Brandon Peters came alive, scoring a bucket at 13:03 and again less than a minute later to give Lamar State its first field goals of the game. Shondel Stewart hit for the next four baskets for Lamar State as the Seahawks began chipping away at the Bulldogs' lead.

By the end of the first half, the Seahawks trailed 35-26.

"Our guys hate to lose," Coach Cross said. "We've got five weeks, 10 games, left in conference and we have to get on a crash course to play the kind of basketball we need to win a championship. We have to get better executing on offense."

It was defense that helped get the Seahawks back in the game Saturday even after Lamar State fell behind again by 17 points with 15:58 remaining in the game.

That's when the Seahawks took off on an 18-2 run that left Lamar State down just a point with 9:14 left. Lamar State finally tied the game at 52-52 with 6:34 remaining, fell behind, then took their first lead since being up 1-0 to start the game when Stewart hit a bucket at the 4:50 mark.

Stewart would hit two more and Elijah Pittman hit four free throws as Lamar State extended its lead to three points at 64-61 with 1:07 remaining. Navarro's Deshone McClure hit two free throws to close the gap to a one point lead for the Seahawks.

With a missed shot by Lamar State, Navarro had one chance left with six seconds remaining in the game. The inbounds pass was good but as Navarro attempted to move to the basket the ball came loose. Stewart fell on the ball and covered it up for the final seconds and the win.

"The way we played, the way we came back to win this one, this is about the kind of guys I've recruited," Cross said. "It's their competitive nature. You have to control that to a degree but as a coach, you want to be careful and not take away that competitive edge. Tonight, our guys willed themselves to a win. They earned this one."

Stewart led all scorers with 25 points with five rebounds and Elijah Pittman had 17 points with five boards. It was Peters who wins the statistical trophy for the night with a triple-double, hitting for 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. An incredible spin move by Peters in the paint for a bucket late in the game could well be one of the top highlights of the season for the Hawks.

Derrick Dawkins picked up five assists for the Hawks while Elridge Moore had four rebounds and two steals for the Seahawks. And while hits statistics might not lend themselves to much attention, Moore's impact in the game was immense, according to Cross.

"Elridge was a major spark for us," Cross said. "He helped a lot on defense that helped create some offense down the stretch. The guy you saw in the last two games is the Elridge I thought I had recruited. He was hobbled by an injury early on but you'll see more of him performing to this level as the season goes on."

Demarco Henry led the Bulldogs with 11 points while Terrance Syon and Princeton Onwas each added 10 points in the game.