Garland – Bearkat sophomore guard Paul Baxter scored 19 points to lead both teams as SMU defeated Sam Houston State 72-53 in a non-conference men's basketball game Tuesday night.

Markus Kennedy led the Mustangs with 14 points. Nick Russell and Yannick Moreira each added 13.

The Bearkats dropped to 4-2 on the year while SMU upped its season mark to 5-1.

The Mustangs never trailed as Sam Houston got off to a slow start and never recovered.

SMU jumped out to a 22-5 lead in the first nine minutes and were up 38-20 at intermission.

The Bearkats bounced back in the second period, cutting the Mustangs' margin to 12 points three times. Nathaniel Mason's jump to make the score SMU 54, Sam Houston 42 with 9:17 marked the final time the Kats got that close.

SMU hit 23-of-48 from the field for 47.9 percent shooting while Sam Houston was 17-of-50 for a 34.0 percent mark. The Mustangs were hot at the foul line, nailing 25 of their 30 free throws.

Sam Houston heads to the beach this weekend for the Corpus Christi Invitational.