BEAUMONT – It took a last-second defensive stop, but the Sam Houston State Bearkats escaped Beaumont with a 74-71 win over the Lamar Cardinals Saturday evening at the Montagne Center to remain in second place in the Southland Conference.
After Kaheem Ransom missed a pair of free throws that would have given the Bearkats a three-point lead with 25 seconds left, Lamar was able to set up a final play for Nimrod Hilliard, who led all scorers with 21 points.
Hilliard pulled up for a long jumper in the closing seconds that hit the back of the rim. Jabari Peters grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws for the three-point victory.
“You just knew this game was going to go down like that,” SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. “I knew he was going to take the shot. Paul did a great job on the defense and forced him into a 16- to 18-footer.”
The Kats (19-7 overall, 11-3 SLC) were never able to get any separation, building a lead to eight early in the second half. But Lamar quickly cut back into it, and tied the game right back up and it was back and fourth from there.
With 1:30 left to play, Lamar (3-23, 2-12) tied the game up for the ninth time, at 68 on a pair of Amos Wilson free throws. But the Kats hit right back when Jabari Peters hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the lead right back in the Kats' favor. Peters then stole the ball on the next Cardinal possession.
“He came up and made some big plays and that is what you want,” Hooten said. “He hit that big shot for us late and came up with some big plays on the defensive side.”
Lamar was playing under interim head coach Tic Price, who was a former assistant for the Cardinals and now working in administration at Lamar. He previously was the head coach at McNeese and this was his first game in charge of the Cardinals.
“We just kind of knew the game was going to go this way,” Hooten said. “He has only been in charge of the team for five days, so we went back and looked at some tape from 2006, his last year at McNeese.
“There is not a lot you can do in that short of time, but they did run several things that we had seen on tape and I'm glad we looked at it,” he said.
The Bearkats had four players in double figures, with Terrance Motley and Peters leading the way with 14. Paul Baxter finished the night with 13 and James Thomas had 10.
The win keeps the Bearkats in second place in the Southland Conference with four games left to play as they seek one of the two byes to the semifinals of the confenrece tournament in Katy. They will now turn their attention to the longest road trip of the season when they take on Central Arkansas (6-19, 3-11) on Thursday and then Oral Roberts (14-13, 8-6) on Saturday.
