Record night in Natchitoches
2/23/2012 2:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
A win is a win, and the Bearkats will take it, but there was nothing pretty about Wednesday night's victory against Northwestern State.
The Kats picked up a big road victory against the Demons at Prather Coliseum, which is always a tough place to play, winning 50-37. Yes, that was the final, 50 to a whopping 37 points.
It is a game that for better or worse will have its place in both the SHSU and NCAA record books.
The 37 points is tied for the fewest allowed by the Bearkats in both an NCAA Division I game and a Southland Conference game. They limited UTSA to 37 points on March 5, 2008 in a 68-37 win.
"We did a few things differently on the defensive end," said head coach Jason Hooten. "We are a man team and got off to a good start running a man defense. But about five minutes in, we went to a zone, which we don't run at all. I think that kept them off balanced."
It is a defensive performance that will go down in the history of the NCAA record books as well. Northwestern State fired up 26 shots from 3-point range, missing on every one of them. It is the most 3-point attempts without success ever in the NCAA. The Demons also shot just 19.7 percent from the floor.
As a result, Antuan Bootle pulled down 20 rebounds off the bench. It is only the second time this season an NCAA player has recorded 20 boards who was not in the starting lineup. It marked only the second time a Bearkat had grabbed 20 rebounds, with Dennis Green getting 21 in a game Southwest Texas in 1989.
It is the first time the Kats have won a game scoring 50 points or fewer since a 49-45 win over SFA in 2002, and only the third time since moving up to the NCAA.
"No matter how we were able to get it, that was a big win for us on the road," Hooten said. "We are pushing toward the Southland Conference Tournament and every win is big. We didn't play our best basketball last night, but we still managed to pull it out."
The Bearkats will play two consecutive home games over the next week, hosting rivals Lamar on Saturday and SFA on Wednesday. They close out the regular season on the road at Texas State. Tickets to the final two home games as well as the Southland tournament are available at www.gobearkats.com/tickets.
