Banner unveiling, solid win highlight North Texas victory
12/9/2010 6:56:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Cody Stark - The Huntsville Item
Everything came together at just the right time for Sam Houston State on Wednesday night.
Following a disappointing overtime loss to Houston over the weekend, the Bearkats needed a boost of confidence with two more challenging home games staring them in the face. Unfortunately for North Texas, the Mean Green ran into a resilient Sam Houston squad which had a score to settle.
The Bearkats put together two of their best halves of the season and in a span of two minutes turned a back-and-forth contest into a 94-74 runaway Wednesday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Sam Houston (5-2) easily turned in its best shooting performance of the season, hitting 57 percent from the floor and 40 percent from long range to hand North Texas (7-2) its first loss in the past six games.
Senior Josten Crow led the Bearkats with a double-double, scoring a game-high 24 points to go along with 10 assists. Senior forward Gilberto Clavell also recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards as Sam Houston takes some momentum heading into Saturday's home contest with Cleveland State.
"We played two really good halves. We probably played like that in the second half against Colorado State, and you saw bits and pieces of it in the Houston game when we played like that," Bearkats head coach Jason Hooten said. "We played pretty good, and as a head coach, you are waiting for that time to come. By no means are we a finished product.
"... I thought what you saw tonight was the bench and some of the guys I have been telling everybody about make plays."
On a night when last season's Southland Conference championship banner was hung in the rafters at Johnson Coliseum, the Bearkats controlled the tempo from the opening tip.
Crow really provided a spark by nailing four 3-pointers in the first half, including two straight which gave Sam Houston a 24-12 lead with 11 minutes to go.
While Crow and Clavell have been solid for the Bearkats this season, it was some newcomers who stepped to the plate and made some big plays Wednesday.
Junior transfers Marcus Williams and Nafis Richardson finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Richardson even provided the dagger with a crowd-pleasing dunk to put the Bearkats on top 86-70 with 2:20 left in the game.
Sam Houston's bench outscored the Mean Green's reserves 37-20.
"Coach said it was a team game and we brought it together tonight," Richardson said. "We came out focused. After the U of H game, we were down on ourselves, but we came out and got the win. We all played hard. We all played together."
The Bearkats kept the lead around 10 points for most of the second half, but North Texas kept threatening. Forward George Odufuwa hit a hook shot for two of his 10 points to trim Sam Houston's lead to 67-61 with eight minutes to go.
That was as close as the Mean Green would get. Richardson made a great pass underneath the basket to set up a back-door layup by Williams to spark an 8-0 run which included a trey by senior guard Lance Pevehouse to blow open the game with the Bearkats up 82-66.
North Texas never recovered and Richardson, Crow and Williams helped Sam Houston outscore North Texas 12-6 the rest of the way.
The Bearkats got into early foul trouble as junior forwards Antuan Bootle and Marcus James, who scored six points and grabbed five rebounds, spent most of the night on the bench.
North Texas went with a bigger lineup and got the ball inside to forward Kedrick Hogans, who scored a team-high 19 points. But Sam Houston just outhustled the Mean Green.
The Bearkats outscored North Texas 50-40 in the paint and turned 15 turnovers into 20 points.
One of the plays of the night showed just how much Sam Houston wanted this win. With just over six minutes to go in the first half, Pevehouse came flying through the lane and dove for an offensive board. While on the ground, he kicked the ball out to Williams, who knocked down a 3 to give the Kats a 39-26 lead.
"I think the hustle is definitely important," said Pevehouse, who scored six points with four boards and two blocked shots.
"When plays like that happen when things are going bad, it can definitely change the momentum of the game. That is my outlook. If I'm playing bad, then I'm playing bad. If I go out there and hustle my butt off things will turn around."
Both the Sam Houston men's and women's teams will be in action Saturday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum. The women play host to Houston Baptist at 1 p.m. The men follow with a contest against Cleveland State at 3:30 p.m.
Tickets for Sam Houston men's basketball are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets.
Saturday is "Kid's Day" at Johnson Coliseum. Kids 17 years of age and under are free when accompanied by a paying adult. Up to four kids can take advantage of the offer with each adult ticket purchase.
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. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1764.
