Devin Gibson and the UTSA Roadrunners spoiled Sam Houston's hopes of a second consecutive NCAA "March Madness" berth with a 79-70 victory over the Bearkats in the semifinals of the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament Thursday night.
Gibson scored 26 points and Sam Houston's top gun Gilberto Clavell almost matched him with 25. But the Roadrunners held off a determined group of Bearkats at the free throw line. UTSA's final 18 points in the last 5:11 of play all came from the charity stripe.
"They played really good and I have to give them credit," SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. "I think that game at UTA, when they came back like they did, sparked them a little bit. We had won 10 out of 12 coming into today and we're both playing really well. They did a good job though."
Josten Crow and Lance Pevehouse, like Clavell seniors playing in what turned out to be their final game as Bearkats, scored 12 points and nine, respectively. Drae Murray added nine points and Antuan Bootle tallied eight.
Sam Houston ends the season with an 18-13 record. The 18 victories recorded by head coach Jason Hooten represent the most for a Bearkat first-year coach at the NCAA Division I level.
UTSA, the No. 7 seed in the tournament, also own an 18-13 mark and advance to Saturday's final.
The Roadrunners took an early lead in the contest. With the score tied 15-15, UTSA went on a 12-2 run to go in front 27-17 at the 9:21 mark on a three-pointer by Gibson.
Sam Houston bounced back with a 10-0 run, tying the score at 5:56 on a jumper by Clavell. Bootle's follow at the first half buzzer allowed SHSU to go into the locker room with the score knotted at 37-all.
A three-pointer by Pevehouse with 12:55 to play gave the Kats a brief 52-49 lead, but UTSA quickly turned the tables with a 12-5 run to go up 61-57. That's when the parade to the free throw line started. In the next 5:11, UTSA netted 18 of 23 free throws to nail down a spot in the finals.
“I felt like at times we were pressured to keep taking outside shots because we couldn't get the ball into Gilberto as much as we normally do," Pevehouse said. "But we had good looks at the basket, but just we just didn't have it tonight."
The game marked Sam Houston's eighth appearance in the Southland tournament semifinals in the past 12 years. The Bearkats hit 24-of-70 from the field and were only 8-of-36 from three point range.
"Their zone was really good tonight," Hooten said. "We had an achilles heal this year, we didn't shoot the ball really well from the 3-point line all year long. As a head coach if you don't take care of that it can come back on you and it bit us tonight."
