Murfreesboro, Tenn – It was a case of getting close, but never getting over the hump for Lamar University in its road opening 74-66 loss to Middle Tennessee State here Thursday night.

Lamar falls to 2-1 on the year, while the Blue Raiders even their season at 2-2.

Trailing by 14 points with 6:39 in the game, Steve Roccaforte’s Cardinals rallied to within a five-point deficit (68-63) on Lawrence Nwevo's free throw with 0:33 left.

But Kermit Davis’ Middle Tennessee club hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final 29 seconds to hold off the LU rally. Leading scorer James Washington, a 5-10 lightning-quick guard connected on 5-of-6 from the free throw line, while teammate Rod Emanuel nailed two straight from the line to seal the Card’s comeback attempt.

“I’m proud of our basketball team because we played our hearts out for 40 minutes,” said Roccaforte. “The one thing I really like about this team is our ability to come back. We played from start to finish, but on the road it’s tough anywhere. But we’ll get better.”

In the final six minutes, high-flying Lamar sophomore Charlie Harper was everywhere, connecting on a pair of field goals, then banging home a three from long range for seven points. Junior college transfer Kendrick Harris was also on fire with a deuce and a trey and two free throws in Lamar’s gallant rally.

Lamar trailed by just six at 69-63 with 0:29 left, but Roccaforte was tagged for a technical by an officiating crew that was inconsistent all night long.

Though Washington made just one of two from the line, it gave the hosts a 70-63 lead and LU never got closer.

“I thought we got away from our game plan early, quit posting up and took too many quick shots,” the LU mentor noted. “Though we played hard, our execution is going to have to get better. That’s something that will be a continual thing with us because we have so many young players.” LU’s roster includes five freshmen and four sophomores.

Leading the way for the Redbirds was the 6-6 San Antonio native Harper, who had 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, and 15 rebounds. Joining Harper in double figures was sophomore Anthony Miles with 19 points, six assists, six rebounds, and only three turnovers in 40 minutes of action.

Kendrick Harris also added 14 tallies in 22 minutes with just two turnovers.

After a 20-20 tie with eight minutes left in the first half, the Blue Raiders used an 18-foot jumper from senior Montarrio Haddock to take a 22-20. and then never trailed.

All night long, the Cardinals would cut into MTSU’s lead, then fall back as the Blue Raiders hit 11-of-15 free throws in the opening half, while Roccaforte’s Cards managed just 2-of-9 from the charity stripe.

The closest LU would get was four points (49-45) on Justin Nabors’ basket at the 12:32 mark of the second half.

Lamar’s big men left a lot of room for improvement as the trio of Nabors, Nuevo and Coy Custer managed to convert just 5-of-16 shots from the field while scoring a combined 14 points with only six rebounds. Nuevo played just six minutes in the first half after picking up his third foul with 13:48 left in the half and Lamar leading 14-8.

“We just have to continue working with our big guys on scoring when they’re in one-on-one situations. And the more we work on it, the better we’ll get at it,” said the Lamar coach. “We really need to post the ball, especially on the road (inside-out). And on the road, shot selection is a big deal. We took some quick shots through a couple of periods, but we’ll

improve for our next game.”

One thing Roccaforte was most pleased about was in the area of turnovers.

“In the first game of the year, we had 24 turnovers. Our second game we had 19. And tonight we had 10 in the first half and just five in the second half. So we took care of the ball much better. Shooting-wise, Lamar, after starting slow, finished the night at 47.3 percent from the field. The Blue Raiders, also hit 47.3 percent on the night from the floor.

But when all is said and done, free throws was the area which led to LU’s first defeat of the season. The Cards were outscored by 11 at the line as Washington led Middle Tennessee’s 20-of-29 free throw shooting effort with an outstanding 11-of-15 performance himself.

The Cards, who hit 80 percent of their free throws the first two games, were a dreadful 9 of 19 for just 47.4 percent.

Up next is a Saturday night contest at Texas Tech.