BEAUMONT — Believe it or not, there was a silver lining in Lamar’s University’s 0-4 road trip through Tennessee, Texas, Ohio and West Virginia.

For those who tuned out at halftime of Wednesday night at Marshall, with the Cardinals trailing 41-25, the good news revolved around what happened in the game’s final 20 minutes. LU poured through 49 points and cut a 61-40 deficit to 12 before time ran out on an 87-74 setback.

“I felt really good about it,” said head coach Steve Roccaforte. “It was our best half of the year. For whatever reason, some things clicked. Our press was effective, we took good shots and we made a lot of them. I honestly think it was something we can build on.”

Roccaforte should get some feedback on that when the Cardinals host North Carolina A&T; tonight at 7:05 in the Montagne Center. The Aggies of the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference are 3-4 and own a home win over common foe Middle Tennessee State.

They could, however, be a little road weary, having dropped games at UTEP (81-66) and New Mexico State (84-68) Wednesday night and Thanksgiving night. Not that they will get much sympathy on that from an LU team that was on the road for seven days.

Lamar, which is making an intermediate stop at home before going back on the road to play at Denver on Wednesday and Hawaii on Sunday, will have reinforcements for tonight. Fifth-year senior Ashton Hall, who missed the first six games with a knee injury, practiced Friday and has been pronounced good to go.

“I’m excited to have Ashton back,” Roccaforte said of the 6-6 wing player from Kountze who averaged 8.8 points and 3.9 rebounds last season. “He won’t start but he will get significant minutes coming off the bench. He gives us another versatile athlete and another veteran player.”

Lamar’s strong second half at Marshall featured 47 percent shooting and a breakout performance that saw 6-4 JC transfer Reggie Mathis score all 16 of his points. The Cardinals also got a solid game from point guard Anthony Miles (13 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists) and a near double-double from Justin Nabors (16 points, 9 rebounds).

“What we got out of Mathis was huge,” Roccaforte said. “We need different people to step up and he’s one of them. People are going to get tired of hearing me say it, but it’s just going to take time and repetitions for this thing to come together.

“The best thing about this team to this point is that it has played hard from start to finish every night. That’s pretty obvious from the way they battled the final half of the final game of that trip. We just have to keep getting better with our offensive and defensive execution.”

North Carolina A&T; features a lineup with four players scoring in double figures. The Aggies main man is 6-9, 235 pound junior Thomas Coleman who averages 10.6 points and 9.4 rebounds.



• When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

• Where: Montage Center (10,080)

• Records: NC A&T; 3-4, LU 2-4

• Series: First meeting

• Radio: KVLI (560-AM)

• Probable starters: NC A&T;: DeMetrius Upchurch 6-7, Fr. (4.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg); Robert Johnson 6-6, Sr. (11.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg); Thomas Coleman 6-9, Jr. (10.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg); Tavarus Alston 6-0, Sr. (12.7 ppg, 3.6 apg); Nic Simpson 6-3, Soph. (11.6 ppg, 2.7 apg). LU: Anthony Miles 6-1, Soph. (11.7 ppg, 4.2 apg); Kendrick Harris 6-1, Jr. (12.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg); Coy Custer 6-11, Jr. (4.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg); Justin Nabors 6-6, Sr. (11.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg); Charlie Harper 6-6, Soph. (10.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg).

NC A&T; fast fact: The Aggies come to Beaumont following losses at UTEP (81-66) and New Mexico St. (84-68).

• LU fast fact: Cardinals have been a strong rebounding team, averaging 42.3 per game to 35.8 for their opponens.