Bearkat men's basketball at NCAA Big Dance
3/17/2010 3:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NCAA TICKETS
Sam Houston State has 20 NCAA playoff tickets remaining in its allotment and those tickets will remain on sale this evening online at www.gobearkats.com .
KATS MAKE SECOND NCAA APPEARANCE
Sam Houston will be making its second NCAA Division I tournament appearance. The Bearkats won the 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Post-Season Classic with a victory over Stephen F. Austin State Saturday.
The Bearkats will be the No. 14 seed in the South Region. Sam Houston will play No. 3 seed Baylor.
Baylor and SHSU have played nine times in men's basketball with the Bears holding a 6-3 edge. But Sam Houston has won the pair's last two meetings with victories of 82-79 in 1996 and 81-84 in 2000 both in Waco. The victory in 2000 came in SHSU head coach Bob Marlin's second season at the Bearkat helm. That 2000 team went on to win the Southland Conference regular season title.
Sam Houston lost to Florida 85-55 in the 2003 NCAA Regional in Florida. The Bearkats moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 1986-87.
BEARKATS ARE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS
Sam Houston won its third Southland regular season championship this season, rolling up a 14-2 record. Head Coach Bob Marlin's Bearkats also won the league in 2000 and 2003. The Kats lost in the semifinals of the 2000 Southland tournament but won the post-season event in 2003.
20-VICTORY SEASONS
Sam Houston is one of 52 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams that have rolled up 20-victory seasons in four of the last five years. Of those 52 teams, Sam Houston ranks 27th in winning percentage with a 109-46 (.703) record from 2006 to 2010.
During head coach Bob Marlin's tenure, Sam Houston has produced six 20-win seasons. Sam Houston's 25 wins this year surpasses the Kats' previous best of 23-7 in 2003 and 23-8 in 2008.
KATS WERE TWO ROAD OT LOSSES AWAY
FROM PERFECT SOUTHLAND RECORD
The two losses in Sam Houston's 14-2 Southland record in 2010 both came in road overtime defeats. The Bearkats were five points away from going unbeaten.
UTSA won 91-90 in overtime in San Antonio, ending an 11-game winning streak. Texas State edged the Kats 101-97 in the regular season finale in San Marcos.
The 2010 Kats have shown the ability to win away from home. Sam Houston is 12-6 on the road or at neutral sites. That includes a tournament championship at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico and a 6-2 road record in Southland Conference play. Under head coach Bob Marlin, Sam Houston is 58-45 on the road in league action.
THE 2010 BEARKATS
The 2010 Southland Conference regular season champion Bearkats rank No. 1 in the league in scoring offense, scoring margin, assists, 3-pointers per game and assist/turnover ratio. The Kats are No. 2 in the Southland in field goal pct. and 3-point shooting.
Sam Houston ranks among the top 50 teams in eight statistics, leading NCAA Division I men's basketball in assists (20.9) and are No. 4 in assist/TO ratio, No. 8 in treys per game and No. 10 in scoring offense.
THREE KATS NAMED ALL-SOUTHLAND
Senior guards Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell and junior forward Gilberto Clavell all were named All-Southland Conference this season. Allmond and Mitchell were first team selections and Clavell was a second team honoree.
Clavell was named as Southland Conference men's basketball "Newcomer of the Year." He is one of 10 NCAA Division I men's basketball players from Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas to receive NABC All-District VIII honors.
BOB MARLIN HONORED AS COACH OF YEAR
Sam Houston's Bob Marlin has been voted as Southland Conference "Coach of the Year" for 2010. Marlin has directed the Kats to the 2010 Southland regular season title and their sixth 20-plus victory season.
Marlin also is a finalist for two major national awards, the 2010 Skip Prosser Award (which honors recipients who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well) and the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award.
PLAYER FEATURE LINKS
Gilberto Clavell * Corey Allmond
Josten Crow * Ashton Mitchell * Preston Brown
TWO BEARKATS ALL-SOUTHLAND TOURNAMENT
After leading Sam Houston to its second Southland Conference post-season tournament championship, two Bearkats were selected to the SLC All-Tournament team.
Senior point guard Ashton Mitchell was named tournament "Most Valuable Player." Junior forward Gilberto Clavell was one of the five players named "All-Tournament."
In the three tournament victories, Mitchell averaged 17.0 points and 5.3 assists, going 7-for-17 (.412) from 3-point range. Clavell averaged 16.3 points and 4.7 rebounds.
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 63.4 points and a field goal percentage of .395. In the Bearkats' losses, opponents have averaged 90.1 points and shot .541.
The Bearkats are 15-1 when they out-score their opponents in the second half and 20-1 when they out-rebound the other team.
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 28.6 points per game this season.
Allmond and Mitchell now both rank among Sam Houston's top 25 all-time leading scorers. Mitchell ranks No. 19 with 1,096 points in four years. Allmond stands No. 25 with 969 points in two years.
Allmond's 15.6 scoring average is the eighth highest career mark in Sam Houston men's basketball history. The senior guard has produced the two highest single season 3-point field totals in school history with 99 in 2009 and 94 this year.
Both were first team All-Southland Conference selections and Mitchell was the Southland Tournament MVP.
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, is averaging16.9 points and 6.3 boards. He has scored in double figures in 26 of the Bearkats' 32 games including three games with 30 or more points. He has been named Southland "Newcomer of the Year," is one of 10 players named to the USBWA All-District VIII honor squad and was selected All-Southland Tournament.
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 second on the team in minutes played and rebounding.
Crow ranks No. 1 in the Southland and No. 2 in nationally in assist/turnover ratio. He was the Kats' leading rebounder in the Southland Tournament and scored the winning basket in the semifinal win over Southeastern Louisiana.
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.
THE BEARKAT BENCH
Sam Houston averages 20.1 bench points per game and depth has been a key factor for the Bearkats.
Sophomore point guard Drae Murray ranks No. 6 in the Southland in assists.
Junior guard Lance Pevehouse brings another 3-point shooting threat to the floor. Pevehouse has come up with several game-turning plays this year including a crucial tip-in late in the tournament first round victory over Nicholls and a 3-point basket that sparked a comeback from five points down with three minutes to play in the semifinals vs. Southeastern Louisiana.
Sophomore post player Antuan Bootle was the team's second-leading rebounder in Southland play before a foot injury sidelined him for the final seven games of the regular season. Bootle played in all three tournament contests.
WINNING STREAKS
The UTSA overtime loss ended an 11 game winning streak, 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.
SAM HOUSTON OWNS 439-GAME TREY STREAK
Sam Houston State has hit at least one three-point basket in 439 consecutive games. That figure includes all the Kats' games under Bearkat head coach Bob Marlin.The last time Sam Houston did not hit a three-point basket in a game was on Feb. 9, 1995 against Southwest Texas State.
MARLIN HOLDS STRONG RECORD IN CLOSE GAMES
During Bob Marlin's 12 seasons as head coach at Sam Houston State, the Bearkats own a 62-39 record in games decided by six points or less.
Marlin owns a 138-70 record in Southland Conference play.
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 275 games in the 12 seasons since 2000 while the Bearkats have totaled 215 victories. UTEP, Texas Tech and Texas A&M rank third through fifth in the Texas NCAA Division I men's basketball victory totals.
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 225-130 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.
KATS WERE SOUTHLAND PRESEASON FAVORITES
Sam Houston State received the most votes and most first place votes in the annual Southland Conference preseason head coaches' poll. The Bearkats were tabbed to repeat as Southland West Division champions with 61 points and seven first place votes. Defending 2009 regular season and tournament champion Stephen F. Austin was selected as the East Division favorite with 58 points and five first place votes.
The Bearkats have finished among the top three teams in the Southland standings six of the last seven seasons. Sam Houston won the Southland Conference regular season in both 2000 and 2003. In 2003, the Kats won the Southland tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament against Florida..
BEARKAT ACADEMICS
Seven Bearkat basketball players have earned Academic All-Southland Conference honors a total of 17 times since the 2006 season. Further, the Capital One Bank Southland Conference Men's Basketball Student Athlete of the Year each of the past three seasons has been a Bearkat.
Forward Ryan Bright received the honor in both 2007 and 2008. Last year, center Barkley Falkner was selected. The annual award is presented to the individual in Southland basketball who achieves excellence in academics and athletics.
Falkner produced a 3.91 overall grade-point average in his three years at Sam Houston as an accounting major. Bright posted a 3.59 overall GPA as a kinesiology major.
Preston Brown is the most recent Bearkat basketball player to earn an academic honor. He is a first team selection on the 2010 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 squad and is a candidate for Academic All-America.
IMPRESSIVE NON-CONFERENCE WINS
Since Bob Marlin became Sam Houston head coach in 1998-99, the Bearkats have produced a 7147 record against non-Southland Conference competition - the best non-conference mark in the league in those 12 seasons.
Sam Houston has played -- and defeated -- such top teams as Missouri, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Baylor, Auburn, Houston, New Mexico State, Fresno State, Oral Roberts, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Central Florida, Saint Louis, Rider and Loyola-Marymount.
The Bearkats have appeared in the NCAA Tournament, the Preseason NIT (reaching the quarterfinals in November, 2005) and ESPN Bracket Busters.
