Three games in Connecticut This Weekend
11/20/2014 12:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Sam Houston men's basketball team returns to action Friday night as the Bearkats begin play in the Coaches Versus Cancer Tournament hosted in Fairfield, Conn.
Hosted by the Fairfield Stags, the tournament also will pit the Kats against South Dakota and Wofford. Friday's action opens with Fairfield hosting Wofford at 6 p.m. (Central) and Sam Houston facing South Dakota at 8 p.m.
Saturday it's the Bearkats' turn to host the host Stags in a 6 p.m. game. South Dakota will take on Wofford. On Sunday's final day, Sam Houston plays Wofford at 11 a.m. and South Dakota and Fairfield wrap up the event at 1 p.m.
Sam Houston, Wofford and Fairfield all bring 1-1 records into the tournament while South Dakota is 0-2.
Wofford and South Dakota both have lost to Stanford. Wofford defeated Iona 86-78 while USD fell in its opener to Utah Valley 60-52.
Fairfield defeated Central Connecticut 71-63 in the Stags' opener, then 24 hours later lost to No. 4 Duke 109-59.
Marcus Gilbert of Fairfield brings the top scoring average into the event with a 18.5 scoring men. Karl Cochran, who leads Wofford with a 15.5 mark, is one of five players on his squad averaging in double figures. Brandon Bos leads South Dakota with a 15.5 mark as well.
Sam Houston brings a 1-1 mark after a 100-52 victory over Austin College in the season opener and a narrow 59-57 loss to UNLV in Las Vegas last Sunday night.
Kaheem Ranson was named as the Southland Conference men's basketball “Player of the Week” after the first weekend of action. He led the Bearkats with 13 points at UNLV Sunday.
The senior from Wichita, Kan. (Southeast H.S.), hit his third three-point basket of the game with 16 seconds left to put the Bearkats within one point. Ransom also made the pass to Dakarai Henderson for the final three-point shot that hit the rim. Ransom also contributed with six rebounds and four assists against the Rebels.
In the Bearkats' season-opening 100-52 win against Austin College, Ransom scored eight points with 10 assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes of work. In two games, Ransom averaged 10.5 points, seven assists and five rebounds in 30.0 minutes of play
Head coach Jason Hooten has been pleased with the effort from his team in their opening two games.
“The team played hard and gave a great effort at UNLV,” Hooten said. “We got the shots we wanted but we just had some stretches where they weren't going in. Against Austin College, everyone got to play a bunch of minutes and we were excited about the scoring production of our bunch.”
Following the tournament at Fairfield, Sam Houston will return home to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum to play host to University of the Southwest Saturday, Nov. 29.
