Lions visit Saturday for league showdown
2/4/2011 7:50:00 AM | Men's Basketball
After ending a three-game losing streak with an 88-67 victory over UTSA, Sam Houston stands 10-10 for the season and 3-4 in Southland play. The Bearkats currently rank fourth in the West Division but trail Texas State, UT-Arlington and UTSA by only a game as the three first place teams are deadlocked at 4-3.
Southeastern Louisiana, coming off an 89-87 victory over Lamar Wednesday night, is 10-9 for the year and 4-3 in the East Division. Three teams, McNeese State, Nicholls and Northwestern State, have totaled five conference victories to date.
"The standings show the parity in the league this year," Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said. "Every game is going to be a battle and we've got to be ready for a tough Southeastern Louisiana team Saturday."
The Lions bring a balanced attack to Johnson Coliseum Saturday with three players averaging in double figures. Trent Hutchin, a 6-1 senior guard, leads Southeastern with 15.5 points per game. Brandon Fortenberry, a 6-3 junior guard, adds 10.7 points and David Ndoumba , a 6-7 senior forward, brings a 10.3 average.
The last time the two teams met was last March in the semifinals of the Southland Conference tournament in Katy when the Lions nearly upset the regular season champion Bearkats.
With 3:06 to play, Southeastern Louisiana held a five-point lead. The Lions were up by one point when Lance Pevehouse hit a crucial three-point basket with 1:13 remaining for the go-ahead points as Sam Houston out-scored the Lions 10-2 in the final minutes for a 88-85 victory and a berth in the championship game.
Pevehouse was a major factor in last Saturday's victory over UTSA, tying his career high with 23 points. The senior leads Sam Houston from outside this season with 34 treys. He is averaging 8.1 points per game.
The Southland's second-leading scorer Gilberto Clavell owns a 20.0 average this year, hitting in double figures in 19 of the Kats' 20 games this season including five performances of 20 or more points.
Clavell is only 38 points away from becoming the first junior college transfer to total 1,000 career points in his two years of NCAA Division I competition at Sam Houston. The senior has produced an 18.2 career scoring average with 962 points in 53 games.
Fellow senior Josten Crow also is averaging in double figures this year with 13.1 points.
KSAM 101.7 FM will broadcast live play-by-play on local radio. The contest also will be video-streamed live on www.gobearkats.com.
Tickets for all Sam Houston State University home athletic events are on sale now online 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) 294-1729.
