BEAUMONT — When the second of Kendrick Harris’ back-to-back treys hit the bottom of the net, giving Lamar a 60-45 lead over Texas-Pan American with 9:44 to play Monday night at the Montagne Center, there was no reason to think the outcome was going to boil down to the Cardinals making clutch free throws in the final seconds.

That’s exactly what happened, however, and in a back-handed sort of way a late game collapse turned into the biggest positive in LU’s second victory of the season.

The Cardinals, after making only 2 of their final 15 field goal attempts to let the scrappy Broncs (0-2) back in the game, went 6-for-6 at the line in the final 23.7 seconds to slip away with a 77-72 victory. Harris, Reggie Mathis and Anthony Miles each proved pressure proof with the game hanging in the balance.

Harris made his two freebies at 23.7, after the Broncs had pulled within 71-69. Mathis buried a pair at 15.0, after Nick Weiermiller’s three ball made it 73-72. Miles, with the score 75-72, then sealed with deal by converting two more with 6.9 seconds remaining.

With the six consecutive free throws, Lamar finished 20-of-25 at the line (80 percent), after sinking 22-of-27 (81.5 percent) in its season-opening victory Friday night.

“If we can continue to shoot free throws like that, we’ll win a lot of games,” said LU coach Steve Roccaforte. “I thought the two Mathis hit were really big. We needed them all, but they had closed it to one when he was fouled. If he misses, they can play for the last shot.”

Had it not come down to clutch free throw shooting, the top story lines on this one would have been around Harris breaking loose offensively and the suddenly svelte Lawrence Nwevo looking like he might develop into a bit of an inside scoring threat.

Harris, a 6-1 JC transfer from Los Angeles, had been Lamar’s top offensive gun in its Red-White games and pre-season scrimmages but scored only nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in the opener. He was much sharper against UT-PA, pouring in 24 points while sinking 9-of-15 from the field.

“I was a little more relaxed tonight,” he said. “Coach wants me to shoot the ball when I’m open and that’s what I did.”

Nwevo, meanwhile, after sitting out much of the opener because Roccaforte leaned heavily on a small lineup against Huston-Tillotson, scored 12 points with some nifty moves around the basket.

“I’m just excited to be playing again,” said the 6-8 Nigerian who is sat out last season with a knee injury, then lost 40 pounds over the summer while working out under the direction of Dan Kroesch. “I’m excited about this team. We’ve got a lot of young guys who are good players and it’s going to take a while for everything to blend. But we’re going to keep getting better.”

In addition to Harris and Nwevo, Lamar got solid play out of point guard Anthony Miles, who scored 14 points, dished out five assists and pulled down a team best eight rebounds. Miles is the Cardinals second leading rebounder after two games with 18.

Thanks to Miles, Justin Nabors (8 points, 7 rebounds) and Charlie Harper and Coy Custer, who had six rebounds each, Lamar dominated the boards, 39-27. The Cardinals, after being over 50 percent from the field most of the night, finished at 47.4 (27-of-57) because of the poor shooting down the stretch.

LU once again committed too many turnovers (19) and managed to get the ball stolen too many times (9). The Cardinals did force 18 turnovers, though, and turned that into a 21-13 edge in points off turnovers that was the most significant statistical difference.

Now it’s off on a four-game road trip that begins Thursday night at Middle Tennessee State.