San Antonio –  James Thomas scored 18 points to lead Sam Houston in an 85-74 Southland Conference road loss at Incarnate Word Thursday night.

The defeat ended a four-game winning streak for the Bearkats and dropped Sam Houston to 13-6 for the year and 5-2 in league action.

Sam Houston led by as many as seven points in the first half but fell behind late in the period to trail 40-34 at intermission.  The Cardinals went on a 29-19 run in the first 12 minutes of the second half to lead by as many as 16 points.

The Kats cut the margin to nine, 76-67, after a three-pointer by Peters with 2:56 to play but could come no closer.

“We didn't run our offense as well tonight and didn't keep the ball in front of us,” SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. “We don't have any excuses tonight. Incarnate Word just beat us. Give them a lot of credit. They played well.”

Jabarai Peters also scored in double figures for SHSU with 16 points. Paul Baxter and Michael Holyfield added nine points each.

UIW, led by David Livingston with 20 points, had five players in doublefigures.

The Cardinals hit 28-of-51 from the field (54.9%)while the Bearkats went 23-of-55 (41.8%).

Sam Houston ends a two-week, four-game road swing Saturday afternoon at Abilene Christian. The Bearkats return to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum to play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi  Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7:45 p.m.