Cleveland,Ohio - Led by D'Aundary Brown with 12 points, Cleveland State defeated Sam Houston State 63-45 in a non-conference men's basketball game Thursday night at the Wolstein Center.
Demarcus Gatlin scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Bearkats. Steve Werner added nine points and Marcus James scored eight.
Sam Houston (4-8) out-rebounded the Vikings 31-28. James pulled down 9 boards while Werner totaled five.
Sam Houston took an early 7-6 lead after an Aaron Harwell three-point shot with 15:28 to play in the first half. Anton Grady put Cleveland State ahead 10-8 with a jumper at the 13:18 mark and the Vikings never trailed again.
Cleveland State (11-2) led at intermission 37-25 and outscored the Bearkats 26-20 in the second period.
Sam Houston shot 40.7 percent from the field (14-of-34) and limited the Vikings to 39.6 shooting. The big factor of Cleveland State was turnovers as the Vikings forced 23 miscues while committing only 13 turnovers. The Vikings scored 27 points off the Bearkats' turnovers.
The Bearkats now take a break for the Christmas holidays. The Sam Houston men will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 28, when the Kats play host to Samford in a 7 p.m. game at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Tickets to all Sam Houston State home men's basketball games are available now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets .
