HUNTSVILLE, TX ? Justin Payne drove the length of the court for a lay-up with one second remaining to give Nicholls State a 60-59 Southland Conference men's basketball victory over Sam Houston State Wednesday at Johnson Coliseum.
Nicholls State (14-9, SLC 7-3) was led by Ryan Bathie with 19 points and Anatoly Bose with 12. The Colonels built a 26-20 halftime margin and never relinquished the lead until Preston Brown scored on a layup with 6.8 seconds to play. Nicholls led by nine points 52-43 with 3:44 to play.
Sam Houston State (13-9, SLC 7-2) was led by Ashton Mitchell with 14 points and eight assists and Barkley Falkner with 10 points.
The loss ended Sam Houston State's seven-game winning streak and was the Bearkats' first loss at Johnson Coliseum in Southland Conference play.
"They are a very good basketball team and they played like it tonight," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "Their coaching staff has done a good job. They were focused and came out and executed their offense in the first half better than we did."
Brown's basket gave the Bearkats their only lead of the night. Nicholls State shot 50 per cent in the first half to take a 26-20 lead to the break Sam Houston got off to a slow start hitting 33 percent (8-of-24) from the field.
"We executed down the stretch whether is was a three or a layup," Marlin said. "Maybe we left a little too much time on Preston's shot but I wanted to go ahead ans score. Then we were not able to sub because we were out of time outs. We had to keep them in front of us and we were too concerned with their shooters. Payne took it all the way."
The Bearkats return to action Saturday when they travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to face the first place Islanders at 1 p.m.
NICHOLLS ST. 60, SAM HOUSTON STATE 59
02-11-09 7 p.m. at Huntsville, TX (Johnson Coliseum)
NICHOLLS ST. (14-9, SLC 7-3)
Bathie, Ryan 8-11 1-1 19; Bose, Anatoly 3-9 5-8 12; Payne, Justin 3-5 2-2 8;
Carter, Kellan 3-4 0-1 6; McCallum, Cameron 3-4 0-0 6; Friend, Dominic 2-6
0-0 4; Iles, Chris 1-6 0-0 3; Czepil, Mike 1-1 0-0 2; Paige, Chris 0-0 0-0
0; Hunter, Fred 0-1 0-0 0; Johnson, Joshua 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-47 8-12 60.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (13-9, SLC 7-2)
Mitchell, Ashton 5-10 2-4 14; Falkner, Barkley 4-6 2-5 10; Pevehouse, Lance
3-6 1-2 9; Ramirez, DeLuis 3-6 2-2 8; Allmond, Corey 2-8 0-0 5; Murray, Drae
1-2 2-2 4; Brown, Preston 2-8 0-0 4; Crow, Josten 1-3 1-3 3; Kvedys, Domas
1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-50 10-18 59.
Nicholls St................... 26 34 - 60
Sam Houston State............. 20 39 - 59
3-point goals--Nicholls St. 4-16 (Bathie, Ryan 2-4; Iles, Chris 1-3; Bose,
Anatoly 1-4; Friend, Dominic 0-3; Hunter, Fred 0-1; Payne, Justin 0-1), Sam
Houston State 5-23 (Pevehouse, Lance 2-5; Mitchell, Ashton 2-6; Allmond,
Corey 1-7; Murray, Drae 0-1; Brown, Preston 0-3; Falkner, Barkley 0-1).
Fouled out--Nicholls St.-None, Sam Houston State-None. Rebounds--Nicholls
St. 31 (Bose, Anatoly 9), Sam Houston State 29 (Crow, Josten 7).
Assists--Nicholls St. 20 (Iles, Chris 5; Bose, Anatoly 5), Sam Houston State
21 (Mitchell, Ashton 8). Total fouls--Nicholls St. 20, Sam Houston State 19.
Technical fouls--Nicholls St.-Payne, Justin, Sam Houston State-Crow, Josten.
A-1759
