Crunch Time
3/2/2011 7:11:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston State has two key games to close out the regular season, beginning tonight with archrival Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. The Kats more than likely have already secured a spot in the Southland Conference tournament next week at the Merrell Center in Katy, but they do not want to leave anything to chance.
A win over the Lumberjacks today, and Sam Houston (8-6 in SLC, 15-12 overall) is basically guaranteed to make the field of eight and return to the site where the Bearkats capped off one of the most impressive seasons in school history with another trip to the NCAA tournament a year ago.
And that's is all the guys want - to be in control of their own destiny.
"We like that. We keep working hard everyday in practice and we know that these next two games are very important for seeding in Katy and to even make the tournament," senior Lance Pevehouse said Tuesday afternoon. "Hopefully we will finish like we want to."
In the previous meeting with the Lumberjacks on Jan. 26 in Huntsville, Sam Houston was still trying to find its identity. The Bearkats were not even thinking about Katy and the SLC tournament, they were just trying to figure out what was wrong.
After opening conference play with an impressive 62-59 victory at UTSA, Sam Houston lost four out of its next five league games. The 63-49 whooping SFA handed the Bearkats at home marked a three-game losing streak.
"We were still trying to figure things out," head coach Jason Hooten said Tuesday. "This team is different from last year's team and the style of play has to be different, yet you have some of the same players from last year's team. So, it has been an adjustment for those guys not to play the same way as we did every night last year. That has taken a little bit of time."
That loss to the Lumberjacks (9-5, 18-8) ignited a fire under the Bearkats. Sam Houston put together four straight wins, knocking off UTSA, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas-Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to turnaround the season.
Since that three-game skid, SHSU has won six of its last eight, including a 67-60 victory over Lamar on Saturday following a heartbreaking one-point loss to Northwestern State on Feb. 23.
"We have picked up our level of intensity," senior Josten Crow said Tuesday. "We know each other a lot better since the SFA game last time. We have had a couple of losses since then, but we have played a lot better. We are communicating a lot better.
"Collectively, we are playing together a lot more."
Hooten said at the beginning of the season that he wanted his squad to be peaking at the right time. He wanted the Kats to get better as the season went on and be clicking on all cylinders as they headed down the home stretch.
Sam Houston has shown a lot of improvement over the past month, and a strong finish might be what could put this team where it wants to be next week.
"We have played better," the coach added. "I think we are close to being where we want to be. The guys have bought into what we want to do. If we continue to play the way we need to play, we should be in good shape. All you have to do is get in (the SLC tournament) because anything can happen, especially since all the teams seem to be similar this season."
The contest at SFA will be broadcast live in Huntsville on KSAM FM 101.7 and on the internet at www.gobearkats.com .
Following Wednesday's game, Sam Houston will end the 2011 regular season with a home game against Southland West Division leader Texas State at Johnson Coliseum. Tip Saturday is 7 p.m.
First round play at the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament in Katy begins Wednesday, March 9.
Tickets for both Sam Houston home athletic events and the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament are on sale now online.
Tournament session tickets are $18, plus a processing charge. The tickets will be available for purchase at the women's game on Wednesday night and the men's game on Saturday night.
For more information, please visit 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.
