HUNTSVILLE ?Ashton Mitchell scored 24 points and assisted on eight other baskets and Corey Allmond added 21 points to lead Sam Houston State to an 84-66 Southland Conference men's basketball victory over Northwestern State Wednesday at Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats went 11-for-25 from behind the arc to stay in contention for the Southland Conference regular-season title. Sam Houston State (11-4 in SLC, 17-11 overall) remains tied with Nicholls State for second place and are a game back of Stephen F. Austin with one to go.
It was a much better performance than Saturday's showing at Texas-Arlington by the Kats on both ends of the court. Sam Houston shot 47 percent from the floor, while holding Northwestern State (3-12, 11-19) to 41 percent in the second half.
In the 95-85 loss to the Mavericks, the Bearkats shot 39 percent, while giving up 62 percent (70 in the second half) on the defensive end.
“We needed to come back and play well,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “The guys were disappointed with the outcome (at UTA). We talked yesterday about being back at home and they were glad to be back. It looked like they were having fun out there. It was a good win for our guys and now we need to take care of Texas State.”
Mitchell scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, while Allmond scored 14 of his 21 points on 4-of-9 shooting from 3 in the opening period.
The only thing that kept the Demons in the game was Sam Houston State's defense. Northwestern State shot 53 percent in the first half and trimmed a 10-point lead down to one at 32-31 when junior Michael McConathy drained a 3 with 4:21 to go in the period.
Sophomore Lance Pevehouse, who scored nine points, then hit two big 3s down the stretch, including one on a pass from freshman Drae Murray that put the Bearkats up 46-37 with three seconds on the clock.
“We are always at our best when we jump out and hit our opponents first,” said Mitchell, who had eight assists and only two turnovers. “Tonight, that is what we did. We had to bounce back from the UTA game and are still in the running for conference champs. It's not over yet.”
The Bearkats kept firing in the second half and went up 62-44 at the 12:34 mark thanks to a pair of free throws from junior Preston Brown, who scored eight points. Mitchell later scored five straight to give Sam Houston its first 20-point advantage of the night at 75-54 with under six minutes left in the contest.
Senior forward Barkley Falkner helped the Kats control the paint Wednesday night. He tied his career-high with 16 boards to go along with 10 points as Sam Houston outrebounded the Demons 46-35.
Freshman post Antuan Bootle also had a solid outing. He scored four points on a couple of putbacks and finished with six rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
“We go inside out and it opens the other guys up,” Falkner said. “We talk all year about defending the paint and then getting the ball in the paint. When you outrebound somebody it is hard for them to win. We did that and it got us off to a good start tonight.”
The Bearkats also did a good job of taking advantage of the opportunities the Demons gave them. Sam Houston scored 27 points off 17 Northwestern State turnovers and added 21 points on 17 offensive rebounds.
The Kats need to beat Texas State-San Marcos at Johnson Coliseum on Saturday and have Stephen F. Austin fall at Texas-San Antonio to claim a share of the SLC crown.
Sam Houston hosts Texas State-San Marcos at 2 p.m. on regional television.
SAM HOUSTON STATE 84, NORTHWESTERN ST 66
03-04-09 7 p.m. at Huntsville, TX (Johnson Coliseum)
NORTHWESTERN ST (11-19, SLC 3-12)
Petravicius, Deivida 4-5 5-8 14; McConathy, Michael 5-9 1-2 14; Mosley,
William 4-6 3-8 11; Clark, Charles 4-7 0-0 9; Knight, Dominic 3-5 0-1 6;
Jones, Damon 2-10 1-2 6; Hancock, Keithan 1-3 0-0 3; Brooks, Aramie 1-3 0-0
2; McConathy, Logan 0-2 1-2 1; Porterie, Kalem 0-0 0-1 0; Richardson, Darius
0-1 0-0 0; Conine, John 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 11-24 66.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (17-11, SLC 11-4)
Mitchell, Ashton 8-10 6-8 24; Allmond, Corey 7-19 2-2 21; Falkner, Barkley
5-9 0-3 10; Pevehouse, Lance 3-4 0-1 9; Brown, Preston 2-7 4-7 8; Bootle,
Antuan 2-4 0-0 4; Thompson, Kendrell 1-2 1-1 3; Murray, Drae 1-2 0-0 3;
Crow, Josten 1-4 0-1 2; Kvedys, Domas 0-0 0-0 0; Zulu, Arthur 0-0 0-0 0;
Ramirez, DeLuis 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 13-23 84.
Northwestern St............... 37 29 - 66
Sam Houston State............. 46 38 - 84
3-point goals--Northwestern St 7-15 (McConathy, Michael 3-5; Jones, Damon
1-3; Clark, Charles 1-3; Petravicius, Deivida 1-1; Hancock, Keithan 1-2;
Richardson, Darius 0-1), Sam Houston State 11-25 (Allmond, Corey 5-13;
Pevehouse, Lance 3-4; Mitchell, Ashton 2-3; Murray, Drae 1-2; Crow, Josten
0-1; Ramirez, DeLuis 0-1; Brown, Preston 0-1). Fouled out--Northwestern
St-None, Sam Houston State-None. Rebounds--Northwestern St 35 (Mosley,
William 10), Sam Houston State 46 (Falkner, Barkley 16).
Assists--Northwestern St 19 (Knight, Dominic 4; McConathy, Michael 4), Sam
Houston State 25 (Mitchell, Ashton 8). Total fouls--Northwestern St 20, Sam
Houston State 21. Technical fouls--Northwestern St-None, Sam Houston
State-None. A-1977
