Men's basketball hosts UTSA Wednesday
2/1/2010 6:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SAM HOUSTON VS. UTSA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - 7 p.m.
Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum (6,100) - Huntsville, Texas
Radio: KSAM 101.7 FM - Streaming Video: www.gobearkats.com
SAM HOUSTON STATE BEARKATS
Overall Record: Won 13, Lost 5 Southland Record: Won 5, Lost 0
Head Coach: Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981)
Record at Sam Houston: Won 214, Lost 128
Overall Coaching Record: Won 337, Lost 163
Top Scorers:
Corey Allmond, 6-1 guard, 16.6 pts.
Gilberto Clavell, 6-7 post, 15.5 pts., 6.2 reb.
Ashton Mitchell, 5-11 guard, 12.0 pts., 4.1 ast.
UTSA ROADRUNNERS
Overall Record: Won 12, Lost 7 Southland Record: Won 2, Lost 4
Head Coach: Brooks Thompson (Oklahoma State, 1994)
Record at UTSA: Won 39, Lost 52
Overall Coaching Record: Won 94, Lost 66
Top Scorers:
Devin Gibson, 6-0 guard, 13.0 pts., 5.2 reb.
Morris Smith, 6-4 guard, 12.8 pts., 4.2 reb
Omar Johnson, 5-7 guard, 11.1 pts.
SAM HOUSTON VS. UTSA SERIES RECORD
UTSA holds a 19-17 advantage over the Bearkats in the all-time men's basketball series between Sam Houston and the Roadrunners.
UTSA ended a nine-game SHSU winning streak with an 83-74 upset of the No. 3 seeded Kats in the first round of the Southland Conference post-season tournament in Katy last March. Sam Houston had swept the regular season series with a double overtime 89-86 win at San Antonio and an 89-67 victory in Huntsville.
While Sam Houston has won their last three games with UTSA in Johnson Coliseum, overall the Kats are 8-9 against the Roadrunners in Huntsville. UTSA's last victory in Johnson Coliseum was a 68-65 win in 2004.
BEARKATS OFF TO 6-0 START IN SOUTHLAND ACTION
Sam Houston stands 6-0 in Southland play this year, the first time their 23 years in the conference that the Bearkats have won their first six league games. The Bearkats were 6-1 after six games in both 2003 and 2009 and stood 7-1 after eight contests in 2009.
This year's six consecutive conference victories rank as the fourth longest Southland winning streak for Sam Houston. The top Sam Houston men's basketball Southland winning streaks are:
* 9 consecutive wins - 2003 (championship season)
* 7 consecutive wins - 2000 (championship season) and 2009
* 6 consecutive wins - 2005, 2007 and 2009
LAST GAME
In a battle of the last two unbeaten teams in Southland Conference play, it was the Sam Houston State Bearkats who emerged on top of the standings. SHSU (14-5, 6-0 Southland) overcame a slow start to knock off the Islanders (11-9, 5-1) 70-58 at the American Bank Center. Corey Allmond led the way for the Bearkats with 16 points.
The Bearkats got off to a slow start, hitting just one of their first 11 shots as they watched the Islanders storm out to a 15-point lead at 19-4. After the two teams traded 3-pointers, the Kats got hot. SHSU scored the next 15 points to tie the game at 22.
"Our guys played really well at the end of the first half and all of the second half," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "Early we weren't hitting at all and we were forcing some stuff offensively. We hit a couple of shots and it relaxed us a little bit."
Lance Pevehouse got the run started with a 3-pointer. Josten Crow capped the 15-0 run with a lay-up to tie the game. A 3-pointer by Allmond gave the Kats their first lead of the game 1:42 to play in the first half. The Bearkats took a 30-29 lead into the locker room, closing the half outscoring the Islanders 26-7 over the final 10:34. They picked up right where they left off in the first half. The Kats never gave up the lead, eventually building it to 10 with 6:50 left to play in the game.
BEARKAT QUOTES
"One of our goals for this year was to handle adversity. Playing on Corpus Christi's home court Saturday, we knew they were going to make a run. The only run they made came at the start of the game. We handled it pretty well and locked down on defense. Our defense created offense." -- Point guard Ashton Mitchell
"The second half, we fell into a rhythm. We got out to that lead and our defense got up. Once that happened we just started pulling away. Our offense came together and everybody stepped it up and made shots." - Guard Lance Pevehouse
HIGH-SCORING BACKCOURT DUO
Senior guards Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell comprise the highest scoring backcourt duo in the Sam Houston's 23 years at the NCAA Division I level. The two players (who are roommates off the court) have combined for 27.6 points per game this season. The duo paired for 27.8 points last year.
DEFENSE A KEY FOR THE BEARKATS
When the Bearkats have played solid defense this season, success has followed. In Sam Houston's 12 victories, the Kats have held opponents to 61.7 points and a field goal percentage of .386. In the Bearkats' five losses, opponents have averaged 87.8 points and shot .572.
SAM HOUSTON OWNS 425-GAME TREY STREAK
Sam Houston State has hit at least one three-point basket in 425 consecutive games. That figure includes all of Bob Marlin's games as Bearkat head coach.The last time Sam Houston did not hit a three-point basket in a game was on Feb. 9, 1995 against Southwest Texas State.
BEARKATS HAVE POSTED BIG WINS THIS SEASON
Sam Houston's non-conference victories this year include wins over Auburn, Oral Roberts, Rider and Florida International. The victory over Auburn was the Kats' first ever over a Southeastern Conference opponent. The wins over ORU and Rider earned Sam Houston the Mayan Division championship at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico during Thanksgiving week.
SECOND "WINNINGEST" TEAM IN TEXAS IN 21ST CENTURY
Since the new century began with the 1999-2000 season, the only NCAA Division I men's basketball program in Texas that has won more games than Sam Houston State has been the Texas Longhorns. UT has won 268 games in the 12 seasons since 2000 while the Bearkats have totaled 203 victories.
MARLIN WINNINGEST SOUTHLAND ACTIVE COACH
Sam Houston's Bob Marlin is only the second head coach in the history of the Southland to post more than 200 coaching victories. The Bearkats' record of 213-128 in Marlin's 12 seasons since his first year in 1998-99 stands as the best in the Southland over that time span.
Mike Vining, head coach at Louisiana-Monroe from 1983 to 2005 compiled a 383-291 record from 1983 to 2005 to rank as the Southland's "winningest" head coach. Ironically, Vining is the man who gave Marlin his first coaching job after graduation from Mississippi State in 1981. Marlin served as Vining's graduate asssistant as NLU won the 1982 TransAmerica Conference championship.
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.
