KATY - It was a lot closer than the Bearkats would have liked, but Sam Houston State escaped the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament with a 62-57 win against Nicholls at the Merrell Center.
The Bearkats had three players in double figures with Ashton Mitchell leading the way with 20 points. Josten Crown and Gilberto Clavell added 12. But the game's leading scorer was Nicholls' Anatoly Bose with 40.
"He is a really good. He is going to make some shots you just have to live with that and make it tough on him." Crow said about Bose. "I have to do a better job of that."
The No. 8 seeded Colonels gave the Bearkats fits all night long, briefly taking a lead with 11 minutes left to play in the game. But the Kats answered right back, getting the lead back up to seven. Nicholls never got closer than three the rest of the way.
"That was a pretty good 8-seed," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "That is what makes our sport great. This is what makes March great."
The Kats were also able to get the victory without the help of Corey Allmond. The senior, a Southland first-team all-conference selection, was 0-for-5 from the floor and finished the night with just two points.
The game was never out of reach in the second half until Mitchell sealed the game with a pair of free-throws with five seconds left to play to make it a two-possession game.
"They gave us a serious push in the second half but we rallied together like we have done all year," Mitchell said. "I wanted to win this real bad. The previous three tournaments we have been knocked out. At the end I just told coach I want the ball in my hands."
Marlin said there was no doubt who he wanted to have the ball at the end either.
"We have a play that we have run for years when we want to get a guy the ball," Marlin said. "They had two guys on him and he was still able to get to the ball."
The Bearkats will now play again on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana which was an overtime winner against Texas State in the last game of the night.
"We will move on and come out and play better tomorrow. We are going to have to. I told these guys we have to games left guaranteed and one of them is tomorrow. If we are going to extend our season we are going to have to play better."
