Sam Houston State used its bread and butter to pull into a first-place tie in the Southland Conference West Division on Wednesday ? defense and rebounding.
The Bearkats outrebounded a bigger Texas-Arlington squad 50-35 and held the league's top shooting offense to 32 percent from the field. Winning those key areas allowed Sam Houston State to pull away for a 73-57 victory over the Mavericks at Johnson Coliseum.
Senior forward Ryan Bright had another monster game with 14 points, including three 3-pointers, and a game-high 17 rebounds to help Sam Houston improve to 16-3 overall and 4-2 in SLC action.
Shamir McDaniel scored 18 points and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to seal the victory. Junior Reggie Rawlins and senior Jeremy Thomas both provided a huge lift off the bench, scoring 16 and 11 points, respectively for the Kats.
“They were the divisional leaders that had won four in a row, and it is always a tough game when we play these guys,” said Bright, who also dished out six assists. “They are big and they play hard. It is always a battle and that proved true tonight.
“So, it was big for us to get a win today like it is always ? one game at a time,” Bright added. “But (a win) builds a little momentum over a good team like this.”
The Bearkats, who are tied with Stephen F. Austin for the division lead, got off to a quick start but fell into a shooting slump for six of the first eight minutes of the opening period. UTA (14-5, 4-3) went on a 13-0 run during the stretch to build a 15-5 advantage.
With a chance to attack inside with the Mavericks' star forward Jermaine Griffin on the bench most of the half because of foul trouble, Sam Houston was settling for 3-point attempts. The Kats went 1-for-9 from long range to open the game.
But SHSU finally started attacking the basket and coming up with easy buckets in transition to pull within 19-17 with 7:29 left in the first half. That's when Rawlins was at his best, scoring six points, four coming on a fastbreak layup and dunk.
“Absolutely (we were settling for 3s), and we talked about being patient and not shooting so many 3s,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “They switched up defenses quite a bit. They played man, they played zone, triangle-2 and other things. But we were able to get some transition baskets that really opened the game up.”
Sam Houston closed the first half on a 15-4 run, with Bright hitting a pair of treys in the final five minutes to go into the break up 34-27. Once the Kats regained the lead, they never trailed again.
UTA never backed down, though. Short-handed with forward Larry Posey out with an injury and Griffin on the bench, the Mavericks battled back to cut the lead to 42-40 with 12:52 left in the game.
Sam Houston responded to the late push when Thomas drained a 3-pointer and hit a short jumper to make it 50-44 four minutes later, and the Kats never led by fewer than five the rest of the way.
After missing most of the win over Stephen F. Austin because of an illness, Thomas bounced back with a solid performance. His biggest play of the game came when he picked off a pass, raced down the court and got a layup to fall despite being fouled.
Thomas converted the free throw to push the lead to 57-49 with just over three minutes left.
“I had been really sick, I was bad last week, but I got a lot of rest,” Thomas said. “The guys played great against SFA and really carried me because they knew I was down. I just tried to get back in the gym, try to get my wind back and try to just come out, practice hard and do all the things that have gotten us where we are so far. But I came out there today and felt good.”
The Bearkats played a great game defensively, holding the Mavericks to only 16 field goals and 2-for-15, or 13 percent, shooting from behind the arc.
With the exception of Anthony Vereen, who scored a game-high 22 points, Sam Houston shut down UTA's top scorers. Griffin finished with four points and sophomore guard Rog'er Guignard had nine. Both came into the contest averaging 12 points a game.
The Mavericks boast one of the league's best inside offensive games, but SHSU center John Gardiner, forward Barkley Falkner and Rawlins didn't allow UTA to get anything going underneath the basket.
Gardiner had two blocks, Falkner had six points, seven defensive rebounds and one block and Rawlins had a block in the victory.
“It was a tough game and we knew it was going to be because anytime you come in here it is going to be a battle,” UTA head coach Scott Cross said. “Obviously, you have to give them a lot of credit. They did an unbelievable job on us defensively.
“We got out to an early lead and it didn't rattle them at all. They just kept fighting and clawing, and of course, they kicked our butts on the boards, which I thought really affected the game.”
The Bearkats return to action Saturday when they travel to San Marcos to face Texas State at 4 p.m.
