Huntsville – Led by DeMarcus Gatlin and Dakarai Henderson who each scored 14 points, Sam Houston State defeated UT-Pan American 78-59 in a non-conference men's basketball game Saturday evening at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.

Kaheem Ransom added 13 points and Michael Holyfield added 12 as the Bearkats upped their season mark to 5-3.

Janari Joesaar led the Broncs with 17 points. Everett Osborne and Dan Kimasa added 13 and 11 points, respectively, as UTPA dropped to 4-4 for the season.

Poor shooting in the first half slowed Sam Houston as the Kats hit just 10-of-36 from the field (27.8 percent) in the first 20 minutes. The score changed hands seven times with Sam Houston taking a narrow 35-31 lead into the locker room at intermission.

But the SHSU men found the mark in the second period, hitting 15-of-26 from 57.7 per cent. Sam Houston outscored the Broncs 43-28 in the final half.

"We came out flat at the start but we battled through it," SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. "What I liked how, once we got a lead, we put them away. Last year, sometimes, we'd get a lead and then fool around and let the other team come back. I'd like to see what we could do if we played an entire game the way we played the second half."

The Bearkat defense forced 17 UTPA turnovers and turned those miscues into 27 points. The Kats out-boarded UTPA 45-30, scoring 20 second chance points.

Jabari Peters led SHSU with eight rebounds. Aurimas Majauskas and Kaheem Ransom had seven apiece.

Peters and Ransom each were credited with five assists.

Next action for Sam Houston State is a road matchup with LSU in one week.