Mid-America Christian
Men's basketball rolls 87-55 over Mid America Christian
11/30/2009 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Gene Schallenberg
Staff Reporter
HUNTSVILLE -- Senior point guard Aston Mitchell scored 16 points and his backup, sophomore Drae Murray, added 15 as Sam Houston State extended its winning streak to three games with an 87-55 victory over Mid-America Christian of Oklahoma City Monday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Initially the Bearkats (5-2) tried to use their size to their advantage, but after struggling around the basket in the first few minutes, the Kats kicked it outside to their guards, who were on the money from 3-point range.
Senior point guard Ashton Mitchell and sophomore guard Drae Murray both drilled three treys in the first half. Junior Lance Pevehouse hit two from 3-point land and junior Corey Allmond and freshman Aaron Thompson each hit a trey.
"Coming into the game, we knew this was a smaller lineup, so we wanted to get the ball inside a little bit to get our big men some touches," Mitchell said.
"Fortunately tonight, our perimeter guys were hitting shots. Corey, everybody knows about him now so they were keying on him. It was up to the other guys to step up and knock down shots, and for the most part, we did."
Helping to provide the separation for the Kats was another solid effort on defense. Sam Houston held Mid-America Christian (4-5) to 31.6 percent shooting. After knotting the score at 12 with a little more than 15 minutes to play in the first half, the Evangels were held to just 17 more points the rest of the half.
"The defense was good tonight," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "The 26 points in the second half was probably the best thing. We played some good defense at times, forcing them to miss some shots. They missed some that they usually would make. They're a good shooting team."
Once the Bearkats built a substantial lead, the size advantage began to show and the posts started to enforce their will.
Sam Houston State outrebounded Mid-America Christian 55-27. Senior Preston Brown and junior Gilberto Clavell recorded double-digit rebounds and junior Josten Crow grabbed nine boards.
Despite a dominating effort around the basket, especially in the second half when they scored 18 points in the paint, the Bearkats knew they let some points get away.
"We rebounded really well," Brown said. "As far as finishing, we really struggled in the first half, getting it in the basket. The guards really helped us out inside. In the second half, we came out and were still getting boards, but we were actually finishing a little bit.
"We rebounded well, but we didn't do as well as we should have. We gave them too many second-chance points off offensive boards that we should have had. We just tipped the ball around or knocked it out of bounds."
The Bearkats will play host to Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. Saturday in Huntsville in their next game.
Attending the contest can help Sam Houston students earn a free T-Shirt.
The first 500 SHSU students to attend any combination of three home men's or women's basketball games will win a Bearkat basketball t-shirt courtesy of Student Activities and Bearkat Athletics.
Attendees will be tracked via the BearkatOneCard. Sam Students receive free admission to BEarkat home games on presentation of their BearkatOneCard.
Huntsville area fans can purchase tickets on-line now at www.gobearkats.com or by contacting the Sam Houston State athletic ticket office at the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729
SAM HOUSTON STATE 87, MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN 55
11/30/09 7:30 PM at Huntsville, TX
MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN (4-3)
Shorter, Charlie 4-12 4-7 12; Williams, Brandon 4-8 0-1 11; Pratt, Nathan
2-5 0-0 6; Amadasun, Nosa 1-4 3-4 5; Craven, Van 1-2 2-2 5; Gregory, Darius
1-2 2-4 4; Langster, Cameron 2-6 0-1 4; Raney, Corey 1-3 0-0 2; Haynes,
George 1-2 0-2 2; Lewis, Donell 1-4 0-0 2; Shodipo, John 0-6 1-2 1;
Davidson, Auston 0-1 1-2 1; Osborne, Arcelon 0-0 0-0 0; Ball, Josh 0-2 0-0
0. Totals 18-57 13-25 55.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (5-2)
Mitchell, Ashton 6-10 0-0 16; Murray, Drae 4-7 4-4 15; Brown, Preston 4-10
2-2 11; Clavell, Gilberto 4-10 1-2 9; Allmond, Corey 3-5 0-2 7; Crow, Josten
1-4 5-7 7; Thompson, Aaron 3-4 0-0 7; Pevehouse, Lance 2-6 0-0 6; Zulu,
Arthur 2-4 0-0 4; Bootle, Antuan 1-2 2-2 4; Cooper, Marco 0-1 1-2 1;
Charles, Trevon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 15-21 87.
Mid-America Christian......... 29 26 - 55
Sam Houston State............. 49 38 - 87
3-point goals--Mid-America Christian 6-18 (Williams, Brandon 3-5; Pratt,
Nathan 2-4; Craven, Van 1-2; Langster, Cameron 0-1; Lewis, Donell 0-1;
Shodipo, John 0-1; Davidson, Auston 0-1; Shorter, Charlie 0-3), Sam Houston
State 12-22 (Mitchell, Ashton 4-6; Murray, Drae 3-5; Pevehouse, Lance 2-5;
Allmond, Corey 1-1; Brown, Preston 1-1; Thompson, Aaron 1-2; Charles, Trevon
0-1; Crow, Josten 0-1). Fouled out--Mid-America Christian-None, Sam Houston
State-None. Rebounds--Mid-America Christian 27 (Shorter, Charlie 7), Sam
Houston State 55 (Clavell, Gilberto 12). Assists--Mid-America Christian 14
(Lewis, Donell 3), Sam Houston State 26 (Crow, Josten 6). Total
fouls--Mid-America Christian 17, Sam Houston State 18. Technical
fouls--Mid-America Christian-None, Sam Houston State-None. A-993
