Conway, Ark. - The Sam Houston men's basketball team earned their 70-62 road victory over Central Arkansas with an amazing performance at the free throw line.
The Bearkats hit 22 of their 28 charity shots including eight straight free throws in the final minute-and-a-half with the game on the line.
The Bears, now 1-11 in Southland Conference and 5-20 for the year, had upset on their minds against the defending league champion Bearkats.
Sam Houston led 31-23 at halftime and was up by 14 points midway through the second half. But UCA fought back to tie the contest 62-62 on a lay-up by Mike Pouncy with two minutes to play.
Gilberto Clavell, who led Sam Houston with 22 points, hit four consecutive free throws, then Josten Crow and Lance Pevehouse each sank a pair from the line to earn the victory.
"This wasn't our best performance of the year by any means, but when we had to produce to win the game, we stepped up," head coach Jason Hooten said. "We talked with the team in pregame about the importance of winning on the road. This was a good win for us."
All three Bearkat seniors scored in double figures with Pevehouse producing 13 points and Crow adding 11. Juniors Nafis Richardson and Marcus James added eight and seven points, respectively.
Tadre Sheppard led Central Arkansas with 16 points.
Sam Houston, which now stands 14-11 for the year and 7-5 in Southland action, plays host to Northwestern State Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Wednesday night, one sharp-shooting Sam Houston State student will win a year's apartment lease for the 2011-12 school year in the second annual "Great Bearkat Shootout Presented by The Grove."
The "Shootout" first round will be held after the SHSU-Northwestern State game on Wednesday, February 23. That evening the field will be whittled down to two finalists for the SHSU-Texas State home finale Saturday March 5 at Johnson Coliseum. Tip-off for both games is 7 p.m.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home athletic events are on sale online now at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU 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) 294-1729.
