Men's Basketball
1/24/2012 8:39:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With three points the difference between Sam Houston's 2-3 Southland record and a 4-1 mark that would put the Bearkats in second place in the Southland West Division, the SHSU men travel to Nacogdoches to face longtime rival Stephen F. Austin Wednesday night in a game to be telecast regionally on the Southland TV Network.
The Houston affiliate for the basketball telecast is KPRC 2.2, which can be found on Channel 732 on Suddenlink in Huntsville. The contest will be streamed on the internet at Southland.org and ESPN3.com. Double Dave's Pizza in Huntsville has power at this time and will be showing the Sam Houston men's game.
Wednesday's game at SFA also will be broadcast live by KSAM 101.7 FM.
The Bearats lost to UTSA 62-60 in their Southland opener Jan. 8 and fell by one point 50-49 to A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday night. Both games saw the SHSU men with leads late in the game only to have their opponents hit game-winners in final seconds.
Sam Houston owns a 98-92 advantage in the all-time series with Stephen F. Austin State.The Bearkats have won 10 of the last 14 meetings. The SHSU men bounced back from a 63-49 loss in Huntsville to defeat SFA 55-40 in Nacogdoches and 61-45 in the first round of the Southland tournament in Katy.
"We've had some great battles with the Lumberjacks in the past and this is going to be another one," SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. "You have two teams who are doing everything to fight and scratch their way into the Southland tournament in Katy meeting Wednesday in Nacogdoches. It's going to be a tough game."
Sam Houston has won or shared the Southland Conference West Division championship each of the past three years. But the big name players who led the Bearkats to a 36-12 overall league mark from 2009 to 2011 are gone.
Seven of the Kats top eight scorers this season are newcomers. Marcus James, a reserve forward, is the only returning letterman in the starting lineup.
A series of injuries hurt the squad November's early games as Sam Houston started the season 1-5. But, as key players returned and the newcomers adjusted to Division I ball, the Kats bounced back for a 5-3 mark in December and early January non-conference action(including victories over Northern Arizona and Samford).
Hameed Ali hit a jumper from the left corner with less than a second remaining to give A&M-Corpus Christi a 50-49 win over Sam Houston Saturday night.
Sam Houston led by 16 points, 40-24 with 15:50 to play. The Islanders outscored the Kats 26-9 the rest of the way. The Bearkats were 11-of-22 (50%) in the first half to build a 32-21 lead at intermission. But SHSU hit only 5-of-17 (29.4%) in the second period.
Demarcus Gatlin scored 19 points and Marcus James added 18 to lead Sam Houston to a 71-68 win over Texas State Wednesday Jan. 18.
Marcus James, who averaged 4.5 points last year after transferring from Seward County Community College, has started 18 games this season, averaging 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds.
Antuan Bootle, a 6-8 post player who started in 2011, has returned after missing 14 games with a foot injury. Bootle has played 30 minutes in the last three games, scoring nine points and pulling down 13 rebounds.
Konner Tucker, a 6-4 shooting guard, red-shirted last year after transferring from Wake Forest. Tucker is the Bearkats' scoring leader with an 11.1 average. He is 38-of-125 from three-point range.
Gatlin, a 6-4 sophomore transfer from Navarro, is posting 10.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest.
Darius Gatson, a 5-11 guard who was a two-time all-conference selection at Trinity Valley Junior College, adds 7.1 points and 4.0 assists per game.
Steven Werner, a 6-8 forward, earned Southland Conference "Player of the Week" honors to open the season, then missed several games due to an injury. The Kats have won five of the nine games since Werner began seeing significant playing time after an early injury. Werner is averaging 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds.
