Bearkat vs. Cardinal battles have been high scoring
1/27/2010 2:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Cody Stark, Huntsville Item Assistant Sports Editor
Sam Houston State has a chance to pull into a first-place tie with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi today, but the Bearkats need to take care of a familiar rival.
Lamar comes to Johnson Coliseum for a 7 p.m. tipoff today, and even though the Cardinals (2-3 in SLC, 10-10 overall) are struggling, they always give the Bearkats (4-0, 12-5) their best shot.
Last season, Sam Houston went on to finish second in the conference, while Lamar failed to make the league's postseason tournament. But the two split the regular-season matchups, the Kats winning 112-105 in double overtime in Beaumont and the Cardinals taking a 60-57 decision in Huntsville.
Today's game should be another good one.
"We have had some very exciting games with Lamar and most are high scoring," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said Tuesday. "The last one we had was here at home. They had not been playing very well and had some injuries, but came in and beat us while we were playing well. We always have good games."
Lamar has dropped two straight following a 2-1 start to Southland Conference action. The Cardinals dropped their league opener 78-56 at Southeastern Louisiana, then rattled off two wins at home against Texas-Arlington and McNeese State by a combined four points.
The past two games, Lamar didn't have an answer for A&M-Corpus Christi, falling 81-64 on the road. The Cardinals almost got back on the winning track, but dropped a 97-92 heartbreaker in overtime at home against Texas State this past Saturday.
Despite it's rocky SLC start, Lamar has some talented players that can score. Point guard Anthony Miles is averaging 14.3 points per game followed by forward Justin Nabors (13.9) and guard Kendrick Harris (12.3).
The Bearkats have won four straight thanks to a stiff defense. Sam Houston is currently ranked third in field goal percentage defense (40 percent) in conference only games.
"We are giving p 39.8 percent and that is certainly an improvement of what we were giving up earlier in the season," Marlin added. "The other night (a 67-64 victory over UTA) we only gave up 18 field goals. We have really cut back on the number of field goals we have given up, so obviously we are playing better field goal defense."
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE POST-SEASON TOURNAMENT
The top two teams from both divisions, plus the next four remaining teams with the best records will advance to the Merrill Center in Katy for the annual post-season SLC tournament to decide the Southland's NCAA playoff representative.The tournament begins on Wednesday March 10 with four quarter-final games. The semi-finals will be played Thursday night March 11. The finals will be televised live on ESPN2 on Saturday March 13.
For ticket information about the tournament see the Bearkats' Southland Conference Classic post-season tournament link.
SPECIAL SATURDAY NIGHT TICKET PACKAGE
The Sam Houston men play three Saturday night home games during Febuary. And now Bearkat fans have the opportunity to see all three men's basketball Saturday night games in February for a bargain price.
With the "Saturday Night Southland Conference Ticket Package" a reserved seat ticket for all three contests is only $15.
The three Saturday night men's basketball opponents are Central Arkansas Feb. 6, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Feb. 13 and UT-Arlington Feb. 27. Tip off time each Saturday is 7 p.m. Only a limited number of reserved seats for the three games remain, so fans need to act now.
Tickets for all men's basketball home games are on sale now on-line at www.gobearkats.com . Fans also may purchase tickets at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
