HOUSTON ? The Sam Houston State men's basketball team went on the road and survived a scare Saturday afternoon at the H&PE Arena in Houston, edging Texas Southern 54-51 to improve to 9-0 on the season.
Leading by just three at the half, the Bearkats were unable to put away the scrappy Tigers in the second half. The Kats extended the lead to eight several times in the final 20 minutes, but each time the Tigers were able to cut back in the lead and make a game of it.
With less than a minute to play, the Bearkats had a chance to put the game away, but Shamir McDaniel missed the front-end of a one-and-one with the Bearkats leading 52-49. Texas Southern came down the other way with a chance to tie the game, but a 3-pointer by David Burrell rimmed out.
Jeremy Thomas was fouled and hit both free-throws putting the Kats up by five. The Tigers scored an uncontested lay-up at the end of the game given the Kats the 3-point victory.
"We made enough plays down the stretch to pull it out," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "We got off to a slow start. We finally were able to score, and it picked up from there. But Texas Southern is a good team, and we are thankful that coach (Robert) Moreland agreed to play us. We have been trying to schedule a game with them for a long time, and I think it was good for both teams."
Thomas played 17 minutes for the Kats, finishing the night with 10 points, including a pair of big 3-pointers to keep the Kats in the lead in the second half.
Ryan Bright also had a huge night for the Kats with 13 points, but his biggest impact was felt on the glass. Bright pulled down a career high 17 rebounds as the Kats outrebounded TSU 49-28.
DeLuis Ramirez led the Kats with 16 points, also hitting a big 3-pointer in the second half to snap a Texas Southern run. He also had a big game on the glass, pulling down 13 rebounds.
The Bearkats struggled early on, missing thier first 10 shots of the game. It took nearly five minutes for the Bearkats to get on the board, and they trailed for much of the first half. But with a minute left to play, Bright scored on an offensive rebound and a tip-in and followed that up with a lay-up to put SHSU up 24-23. THen with seconds left to play in the half, Ashton Mitchell picked up a loose ball and slammed it home at the half-time buzzer to put the Kats up 26-23 at the break.
"Give Texas Southern some credit and give our guys some credit too for playing through some adversity," Marlin said. "I think our experience last year of going over and playing Alcorn and Southern Miss was a big help today because we have been through a game like this before."
