Kats must hurdle McNeese to earn No. 1 seed
2/23/2010 7:14:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SAM HOUSTON vs. MCNEESE STATE
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7 p.m.
Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum - Huntsville, Texas
Radio: KSAM 101.7 FM - Streaming Video www.gobearkats.com
SAM HOUSTON STATE BEARKATS
Overall Record: Won 19, Lost 6 Season Won 11, Lost 1 Southland
Head Coach: Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981)
Record at Sam Houston: Won 219, Lost 129
Overall Coaching Record: Won 342, Lost 164
McNEESE STATE COWBOYS
Overall Record: Won 9, Lost 17 Season Won 4, Lost 8 Southland
Head Coach: Dave Simmons (Louisiana Tech, 1981)
Record at University: Won 48, Lost 68
SETTING THE STAGE
The Bearkats can clinch the No. 1 seed at the Southland post-season tournament and at least a share of the league's regular season championship with a victory over McNeese State Wednesday.
At 11-1 in conference action, Sam Houston owns a three-game lead over its nearest competitor Stephen F. Austin and the Kats own the tiebreaker over the Lumberjacks thanks to SHSU's 66-57 win over SFA in the pair's opening SLC game Jan. 9.
The title would Sam Houston's third Southland regular season crown. Head Coach Bob Marlin's Bearkats also won the league in 2000 and 2003.
Sam Houston was the first team to clinch a berth in the 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Post-Season Classic at the Merrell Center in Katy March 10-13. The winner of the classic earns the Southland's NCAA tournament berth. Sam Houston won the tournament title and played Florida in Tampa in the NCAA first round in 2003.
Sam Houston has four games left on the regular season schedule with McNeese and UT-Arlington at home this week and Northwestern State and Texas State on the road next week.
GREAT BEARKAT SHOOTOUT
Sam Houston athletic officials are expecting a large crowd at Johnson Coliseum on Wednesday. Student Council is holding a pre-game pep rally outside the building at 5:30 p.m. and as many as 800 students will have the opportunity to win a free apartment lease for a year in the Great Bearkat Shootout following the game.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH BOB MARLIN
"Right now, everybody is jockeying for position in the tournament," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "We have a chance to get the top spot and McNeese is fighting to get in. A win over us would give the Cowboys an important tiebreaker if they finish in a tie with someone for a spot in the tournament. This is an important game for both of us. Our goal at the start of the season was not going undefeated. Our goal is to win the conference and that is what we are working toward. We have room for improvement and we need to pick it up now that it's almost tournament time. We need to be playing our best basketball in March."
20-VICTORY SEASONS
Sam Houston is one victory away from its fourth 20-win season in the last five years. Only 66 teams in NCAA Division I men's basketball had posted 20-win seasons in three of the last four years going into the start of the 2009-10 schedule. Of those 66 teams, Sam Houston ranked 36th in winning percentage with an 84-39 record from 2006 to 2009.
SENIOR GUARD ONE POINT FROM MILESTONE
Ashton Mitchell, senior guard from New Orleans and the only fourth-year player on the 2010 Bearkat squad, is one point away from becoming the 21st Sam Houston men's basketball player to score 1,000 career points. Mitchell has scored 999 points in his 117 games. He also stands third in Bearkat career assists with 519.
SAM HOUSTON VS. McNEESE SERIES RECORD
McNeese leads the all-time Bearkat-Cowboy men's basketball series with 34 victories to Sam Houston's 25. Since SHSU joined the Southland in 1988, the Cowboys own a narrow 22-21 margin in the series.
Since Bob Marlin became Sam Houston's head coach in 1999, the Kats are 12-9 against McNeese. Sam Houston has won the last three meetingsby scores of 64-49 and 75-60 in regular season games in Lake Charles in 2008 and 2009 and 64-62 in overtime in the first round of the Southland tournament in Katy two years ago.
The last time two times McNeese State has visited Johnson Coliseum, the Cowboys have left winners, taking the 2007 game 59-58 in overtime and winning 60-57 in 2006.
WINNING STREAK ENDS
UTSA had to go to overtime to do it, but the Roadrunners ended Sam Houston's 11-game winning streak Saturday 91-90. The 11-0 start was the Bearkats' best in its 23 year history in the Southland. The 11 consecutive victories were Sam Houston's longest streak since the team moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 1987. The 2003 conference championship team rolled up 10 consecutive victories before the string was ended in a road game at Louisiana-Monroe.
The 1986 Bearkats ran off 20 consecutive victories on the way to a berth in the NCAA Division II regionals. The 1973 Sam Houston squad went 28-0 before falling in the second round of the NAIA National Tournament at Kansas City.
LAST UNBEATEN SOUTHLAND TEAMS
With Sam Houston's loss at UTSA, Arkansas State will remain the last team to go through Southland play unbeaten.
Arkansas State went 4-0 in 1974. Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State went 8-0 in 1972 and 1967, respectively.
Eleven times a Southland competitor has ended league play with just one loss. The most recent have included Northwestern State (15-1 in 2006), Nicholls (15-1 in 1998 and 17-1 in 1995), and Louisiana-Monroe (17-1 in 1993, 13-1 in 1991 and 13-1 in 1990).
LAST YEAR'S MEETING WITH McNEESE
Corey Allmond scored 20 points including a 4-of-9 performance from three-point range to lead Sam Houston State to a 75-60 victory in last year's meeting with McNeese State at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles. The Cowboys took an early first half lead, but the Bearkats outscored the Cowboys 13-0 in the final 5:16 of the first period to go up 35-26 at intermission. Sam Houston never trailed again.
Allmond scored 18 of his game-high 20 points after halftime, including a 4-of-9 performance from behind the arc. Junior Preston Brown and senior DeLuis Ramirez each chipped in nine points. Barkley Falkner just missed out on a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds. Sophomores Josten Crow and Lance Pevehouse each added eight points off the bench for Sam Houston State.
McNeese State led by as many as seven in the first half and was up four with 5:16 to go before halftime. That's when Sam Houston State came roaring back. Ramirez scored back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 26, then freshman Antuan Bootle gave the Bearkats their first lead of the game with a layup with two minutes left in the period.
Pevehouse followed with one of his two 3-pointers on the night, while Ramirez and Falkner capped the 13-0 run with baskets to make it 35-26. The Cowboys cut the advantage to five twice in the first five minutes of the second half. But Allmond and Brown hit consecutive 3s to push the lead to 45-34. Sam Houston State never led by less than double digits the rest of the way.
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 have combined for 28.1 points per game this season. Roommates off the floor, Allmond and Mitchell now both rank among Sam Houston's top 35 all-time leading scorers. Allmond stands No. 35 with 853 points in two years while Mitchell is No. 21 with 999 points, one away from becoming the 21st Sam Houston player to total 1,000 career points.
TWO DIFFERENCE MAKERS FOR 2010 TEAM
Junior forwards Gilberto Clavell and Josten Crow have been big difference makers for the Bearkats this year. Clavell, a transfer from Collin County, leads Sam Houston in both scoring and rebounding with 16.2 points and 6.0 boards. Clavell has scored in double figures in 20 of the Bearkats' 25 games including a season high of 34 points in a road victory at Auburn. Head coach Bob Marlin calls Crow the team's "glue" - the player who hold things together by doing the dirty work. The Houston Westfield product, in his first year as a starter after two seasons as a reserve, is third on the team in minutes played (28.0), second in rebounding (5.4) and ranks No. 1 in the Southland and No. 2 in NCAA men's basketball in assist/turnover ratio (3.0).
PRESTON BROWN EARNS ACADEMIC HONOR
Preston Brown, the fourth leading scorer and rebounder for the Sam Houston men's basketball team, has been named as a first team selection on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team 2010 All-District 6 honor squad.
The team is selected by vote of members of the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) in the district which consists of NCAA teams from Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America team is the official national academic honor squad recognized by the NCAA. Members of the All-District first team are eligible for selection to this year's CoSIDA Academic All-America national team.
Brown, a senior kinesiology major from Wichita, KS, produced a 3.50 overall grade point average through his first three years of college
DEFENSE A KEY FOR THE BEARKATS
When the Bearkats have played solid defense this season, success has followed. In Sam Houston's victories, the Kats have held opponents to 62.9 points and a field goal percentage of .395. In the Bearkats' losses, opponents have averaged 88.3 points and shot .550.
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.
Sam Houston will be seeking to earn its 13th berth in the Southland Post-Season Tournament. The Bearkats have been tournament participants for seven consecutive years.
Sam Houston won the Southland tournament championship in 2003, finished as runner-up in 2006 and has won a spot in the semifinals five times.
Tournament ticket booklets for the annual State Farm Southland Conference Post-Season Classic March 9-13 at the Merrell Center in Katy are now on-sale for $75 online. Go to Southland Tournament Central for more information or by call the SHSU Athletic Ticket office at 936-294-1729. The Sam Houston athletic ticket office is located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
BEARKAT BASKETBALL TICKETS
Tickets for Bearkat basketball home games are on sale now on-line. 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.
Admission to Sam Houston State regular season home athletic events is free for students on presentation of their BearkatOne card.
