JUCO BASKETBALL: Seahawks’ game postponed after traffic accident; no serious injuries
Published 8:24 pm Friday, February 1, 2019
Lamar State College Port Arthur announced late Friday that its Saturday men’s basketball game at Coastal Bend College in Beeville has been postponed to a later date to be determined next week.
The announcement came hours after the Lamar State Seahawks were involved in an auto accident just north of Wharton. No players or coaches were seriously injured, Lamar State announced at 7:53 p.m. Friday, but several players were taken to a Corpus Christi medical center for precautionary reasons.
Lamar State spokesperson Gerry Dickert said the decision to postpone came after it was realized the players in the medical center may not be completely checked out until early Saturday morning, which could the team not prepared to play. Tipoff was scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Marecek Center in Beeville.
The accident, according to a Lamar State news release, occurred about 1 p.m. The team was headed to Corpus Christi to stay overnight.
Drivers heading southbound on Interstate 59 came upon a woman walking in the right-hand lane, hit their brakes and swerved in order to miss the woman. The driver of the Lamar State van avoided the collision but was rear-ended by another vehicle, according to the release. The accident shut down the southland lane for more than an hour.
Lamar State assistant coach Casey Apetrei said on Instagram he was driving six of the players. As of last Saturday, the Seahawks had 11 players active on their roster.
“Can’t be thankful enough no one was seriously injured today,” Apetrei posted. “This was one of the scariest moments of my life today because not only was I in danger but I was driving six of our players. God was truly watching over us.”
Saturday’s game was to be the second Apetrei would act as head coach for Lance Madison, who went to Indiana for the funeral of his mother.
Lamar State is 14-8 and 5-5 in the Region XIV South Zone, tied for first place with Blinn College and Jacksonville College. Coastal Bend is 7-10 and 3-7, tied for fourth with the other two teams in the zone, Angelina College and Lee College.
The next scheduled game for the Seahawks is Thursday at Jacksonville. Their next home game will be Feb. 9 against Lone Star College-Tomball.
Coastal Bend next faces Blinn in Beeville on Wednesday and is off until a Feb. 12 game at Jacksonville.
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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews
