Lance Pevehouse certainly knows how to go out in style.
Playing in his final game at Johnson Coliseum, the senior from League City drilled seven 3-pointers, including two toward the end of the first half to break the game open and spark Sam Houston State to a 68-52 drubbing of Texas State on Saturday night.
Pevehouse finished with a career-high 25 points and fellow seniors Gilberto Clavell and Josten Crow combined to score 20 more to help the Bearkats win the Southland Conference West Division and earn the third seed in the league's postseason tournament this week at the Merrell Center in Katy.
Sam Houston will face archrival Stephen F. Austin in the opening round Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., looking to advance to the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
Pevehouse scored seven consecutive points as the Bearkats (10-6 in SLC, 17-12 overall) jumped out to a 26-15 lead with 4:35 left in the first quarter. That pretty much sealed the Bobcats' fate.
"After I got hot, I think everybody - top to bottom - played a lot hotter offensively and defensively," said Pevehouse, who went 7 for 10 from long range. "We were setting great screens tonight and moving the ball well. I thought that was a huge key to the game."
The Bearkats had an outside shot at possibly tying for the SLC regular-season championship Saturday if Lamar could have knocked off McNeese State earlier in the day.
The Cowboys dashed those hopes, but the Bobcats (10-6, 15-15) still had a chance at a ring with a win over Sam Houston.
The Kats were the ones playing like a title was on the line Saturday. After Pevehouse's one-man 7-0 run, Texas State got the deficit back to double digits with baskets by Ryan White and Tony Bishop, who provided most of the Bobcats offense by combining to score 29 points.
But sophomore Aaron Thompson, who along with junior Marcus James stepped up for Sam Houston in the post with Clavell, who scored 13 points and had eight boards, and junior Antuan Bootle in foul trouble, scored two baskets in the final minute to send the Kats into the break up 32-22.
Thompson finished with a season-high eight points and seven boards, while James scored seven and also hauled in seven rebounds.
"Me and M.J. just have to be ready to come off the bench every night," Thompson said. "We just work our hardest on the floor, so like tonight when we come on the floor, we aren't missing anything."
The Bearkats came out bombing in the second half, and once again it was Pevehouse with the hot hand. He hit two more 3s to push the lead to 40-26.
Bishops converted an old fashion three-point play to trim the lead back to 11 only to see Crow drop a 3, Clavell drop in a layup and Pevehouse drain a trey to make it a 19-point game.
Sam Houston led by as many as 20 when Clavell hit a free throw with 10 minutes left in the contest. Texas State never mounted much of a threat the rest of the way.
The Bearkats continued to play lockdown defense, which has led to a three-game winning streak heading into the SLC tournament. Sam Houston held the Bobcats to 33 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle 47-36.
"Our guys just came to play tonight, whether we were playing for a conference championship or what," SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. "It was just the next game on our schedule and we wanted to play the best we could. I thought we did.
"We tempoed the way we wanted to. They were averaging 82 points a game and got 52. We did what we wanted and needed to tonight."
Purchase State Farm Southland Conference Tournament Tickets
Both the Sam Houston State University men's and women's basketball teams will be in the thick of the battle for an NCAA "March Madness" berth at the 2011 State Farm Southland Conference Tournament.
The action begins Tuesday March 8 and runs through Saturday March 12, all at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy.
The Bearkat men are defending tournament champions while the women are making their second consecutive appearance in the event. Tickets are available online right now. A tournament All-Session ticket is $75
2011 State Farm Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Leonard E. Merrell Center, Katy, Texas; March 9-12, 2011
Wednesday, March 10
Game 1: No. 7 UTSA vs. No. 2 Northwestern State, Noon
Game 2: No. 6 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 3 Sam Houston State, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 8 Nicholls State vs. No. 1 McNeese State, 6 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 4 Texas State, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 11
Men's Game Five: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6:05 p.m.
Men's Game Six: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:33 p.m. (Approximately)
Saturday, March 13
Championship Game: 3:05 p.m.
