Title defense begins at UTSA
1/5/2011 7:02:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston State begins the defense of its 2010 Southland Conference men's basketball championship Saturday night when the Bearkats travel to San Antonio to take on the Roadrunners in a 7 p.m. contest.
Last year, the Kats rolled up a 14-2 Southland record to claim the regular season title, then knocked off Nicholls, Southeastern Louisiana and defending champion Stephen F. Austin to win the league post-season tournament. In their second NCAA appearance, Sam Houston threw a scare into eventual Elite Eight participant Baylor in New Orleans before falling 68-59. The Bearkats led 31-30 at half and the game was tied 55-55 with 3:48 after a contest with 15 lead changes.
The two losses in Sam Houston's 14-2 Southland record in 2010 both came on the road in overtime defeats. One of those two losses came at the hands of the Roadrunners.
UTSA won 91-90 in overtime in San Antonio, ending an 11-game winning streak. Devin Gibson hit three foul shots and Omar Johnson added two more from the charity stripe for the winning points in the final 21 seconds.
The difference in the game came at the free throw line, where UTSA connected on 35-of-45 free throws while the Bearkats were just 13-of-17 at the line. SHSU was called for 32 fouls while UTSA was whistled just 18 times. SHSU finished the contest with three starters, Ashton Mitchell, Preston Brown and Gilberto Clavell on the bench who all fouled out. Lance Pevehouse also picked up a fifth foul late in the game.
Led by Clavell's 27 points, Sam Houston won the earlier 2010 meeting with the Roadrunners in Huntsville 73-67.
UTSA leads the all-time series with Sam Houston 20 wins to 18. The Roadrunners upset the Kats 83-74 in the first round of the Southland post-season tournament in Katy in 2009. That loss ended a string of nine Bearkat victories over UTSA that dated back to the 2005 season.
Sam Houston State completed the non-conference portion of its 2010-11 schedule with a 7-6 record. The Bearkats own NCAA Division I victories over Florida International, Colorado State and North Texas.
The SHSU men lost two close games with defending Conference USA tournament champion University of Houston, falling 75-71 in overtime in Huntsville and 75-73 at Houston. The Kats also held leads in losses to Cleveland State in Huntsville and Air Force and UTEP in El Paso.
The Bearkats are led by their three senior captains. Gilberto Clavell is averaging 19.1 points and 7.2 rebounds, Josten Crow 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds and Lance Pevehouse 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds.
Clavell was Southland Conference "Newcomer of the Year." The 6-7, 235-pound senior forward earned USBWA All-Region and Southland championship all-tournament honors. He was the leading scorer (16.9 points) and leading rebounder (6.3 boards) for the conference titlists. He ranked among the conference's top five in both scoring and rebounding.
This season Clavell stands No. 2 in the league in scoring and No. 4 in rebounding. In his two seasons as a Bearkat, he is a five -time winner of league "Player of the Week" honors (three times last year and twice this season).
Crow, a 6-4 senior forward, was the straw that stirred the drink for the 2010 league champions. Crow ranked No. 1 in the Southland and No. 2 nationally in assist/turnover ratio and ended the season No. 4 in Southland assists (3.9) and in the top 10 in the league in steals (1.4). He was the second-leading rebounder for the Kats (5.4).
A second team preseason All-Southland selection in 2011, Crow currently stands 11th in the league in scoring, 12th in rebounds, 7th in assists (3.9) and 2nd in steals (2.1).
Pevehouse, a 6-2 senior guard, has provided a perimeter scoring threat off the bench the past two seasons. He was a hero for the Kats at the Southland tournament last year with a crucial tip-in in the Nicholls victory and a big 3-pointer to spark a late comeback in the Southeastern Louisiana semifinal win. He was third on the team in treys last year.
Three other players who played a major role in the championship season as reserves also return. Drae Murray, a 5-10 junior guard, ranked No. 3 in the Southland in assists (4.0) last year as the backup to All-Southland point guard Ashton Mitchell. Murray is averaging 5.1 points and ranks No. 5 this season in the Southland in assists (4.1). Antuan Bootle , 6-7 junior center, led the Bearkats in rebounding (6.3) during Southland action last year. This season Bootle is averaging 4.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. Aaron Thompson, a 6-9 sophomore center who is a skilled shooter, adds 2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds this season.
To fill the gap left by the graduation of All-Southland Conference guards Corey Allmond (15.8 points) and Ashton Mitchell (12.4) points and senior forward Preston Brown (9.1 points), Hooten added three junior college transfers. Marcus Williams, a 5-10 guard from Cochise College in Douglas, Ariz. , is Sam Houston's third-leading scorer this year with 8.7 points per game. He averages 4.0 assists. Nafis Richardson, a 6-2 guard from McLennan Community College, is averaging 6.2 points per game this season. Marcus James, a 6-7 forward Marcus James from Seward County in Kansas owns 4.5 scoring and 5.1 rebounding means. Last season Williams averaged 20.3 points, Richardson 14.4, and James 12.3 in junior college action.
Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls are the favorites to win the West and East Divisions, respectively, according to the annual preseason poll of the Southland's head coaches. Defending regular season and tournament champion Sam Houston was predicted to finish as the West Division runner-up, followed in order by Texas State, A&M-Corpus Christi, UTSA and UT-Arlington. Southeastern Louisiana is predicted to be the East Division runner-up, followed by Northwestern State, Lamar, McNeese State and Central Arkansas.
Tickets for Sam Houston men's basketball are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets.
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. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1764.
