Men host Mavericks Wednesday at 7 p.m.
1/11/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thanks to a 62-59 come-from-behind victory over UTSA in San Antonio in their league opener Saturday, the Bearkats have the opportunity to start Southland play with a 2-0 mark with a victory over UTA.
Last year's Southland Conference championship team started league play with 11 consecutive victories. The only other years Sam Houston has won its first two Southland tilts were 2003, 1990 and 1988.
The Bearkats are making their first home appearance in Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum in more than a month. The Sam Houston men have been on the road since December 11.
The Mavericks bring the league's third-leading defense to Huntsville Wednesday as UTA has held foes to only 67.3 points per game. The Mavs lost to Nicholls in their Southland opener Saturday and stand 6-8 for the season. LaMarcus Reed leads UTA in scoring with 13.8 points per game.
Sam Houston leads its all-time men's basketball series with UT-Arlington with 35 victories to 19. The Bearkats defeated the Mavericks in both meetings last season, winning 67-64 in Arlington and 94-69 in Huntsville.
Senior 6-7 forward Gilberto Clavell led Sam Houston Saturday with 26 points at UTSA, his second highest scoring output of the season.
Clavell is the Southland's second-leading scorer (19.6 points) and stands fifth in the league in rebounding (7.4). He has scored in double figures in 13 of the Kats' 14 contests this year.
With 837 career points in 47 games since transferring to Sam Houston from Collin Country Community College, Clavell is 163 points away from becoming the first junior college transfer to score 1,000 career points for the Bearkats in his two years of action at the NCAA Division I level. He is averaging 17.8 points per game as a starter for the Kats.
Clavell has earned Southland "Player of the Week" honors twice this year and five times as a Bearkat.
Josten Crow and Lance Pevehouse join Clavell to lead the 2011 Sam Houston squad as senior co-captains. All three played important roles on the 2010 championship team. Clavell was Southland Conference "Newcomer of the Year" and an All-Southland Tournament performer. Crow ranked No. 1 in the Southland and No. 2 nationally in assist/turnover ratio. Pevehouse has provided a consistent perimeter scoring threat for the past three years.
This season Clavell is averaging 19.6 points and 7.4 rebounds, Crow 13.1 points and 6.2 rebounds and Pevehouse 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds.
KSAM 101.7 FM will carry play-by-play of Wednesday's game live on the radio in Huntsville and on the internet. Bearkat Vision will stream video live on www.gobearkats.com.
Wednesday's game is the first of two home contests for Sam Houston this week. The Bearkats will play host to Nicholls Saturday at 2 p.m. in a game to be televised regionally by the Southland TV Network.
Tickets for all Bearkat home games are onsale online now at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or 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.
