BEAUMONT — If the new faces on Lamar’s men’s basketball team weren’t the main attraction to Tuesday’s Red and White Scrimmage, the newest addition to the almost 32-year-old Montagne Center was: A video board.

“The Montagne looks good,” third-year head coach Tic Price said. “I’m only interested in one thing, though: The number that says you won. But it definitely gives the Montagne a much-needed facelift. It really helps us in recruiting, too.”

The four-sided electronic centerpiece hanging over center court and its supplementing side scoreboards showed that the more experienced Red team turned it on in the second of 10-minute halves to take a 43-36 win over the White.

“We both played hard,” said junior transfer Joey Frenchwood, one of six new faces for Lamar eligible this season. “We just happened to come out on top. Good core guys, any way you split it up, it’s going to be even.”

Sophomore forward Josh Nzeakor for the Red and junior transfer Torey Noel for the White each scored a game-high 10 points. Sophomore guard Nick Garth for the White and Frenchwood for the Red each had eight.

Every player except recent Central graduate Tyrin Atwood scored. Sophomore Terrance Hubby sat out because of a concussion he suffered in practice about two weeks ago.

But Price was impressed with the point guards for each team, Northern Oklahoma College transfer Noel and California native Frenchwood, who dropped in from Hill Junior College by way of Montana State.

“I see that we can play them together,” Price said. “To me, they’re maybe our two strongest defenders on the perimeter.”

Both teams shot well from the field in the first half as the White took a 20-17 lead at halftime. The Red finished shooting 17 for 32 (53.1 percent) from the field after hitting 7 of 16 in the first 10 minutes. The White cooled off to a 15-for-34 clip (44.1 percent) after starting 9 for 17.

“I think we’re a little rusty,” Frenchwood said. “I mean, it’s nice that we get to play in front of some people. We’re a real competitive bunch of guys talking a bunch of mess all week about who’s going to win. I thought it was fun tonight. We got better.”

Among the newcomers, Nederland and Lamar State College Port Arthur great Colton Weisbrod had six points, shooting 3 for 7, and totaled five rebounds.

“He’s a matchup nightmare,” Price said. “A bigger guy, he can take outside. A smaller guy, he can take inside. That’s what we want to try to do against teams that we play. We want to be manipulative and cunning. It’s just based on how people play him.”

Weisbrod’s LSCPA teammate Christian Albright had five points, making both of his field-goal attempts, and sophomore Dorian Chatman, a Port Arthur Memorial alumnus, totaled four points.

“I like the effort from both teams,” Price said. “I thought defensively we didn’t show a willingness to help-side defense. Our rotations weren’t good, but we’re still getting a feel for how to play under the lights when we play in front of people.”

Lamar begins its season at home at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 against Howard Payne, followed by a West Coast swing to Oregon State (Nov. 16) and Fresno State (Nov. 19).

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews