POST-GAME NEWS CONFERENCE FROM
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Perimeter shooting by Kaheem Ransom, Jabari Peters and Paul Baxter powered the Bearkats to a 70-61 victory over Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference post-season tournament.
No. 3 seed Sam Houston (22-9) moves into the semifinals to face No. 2 A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy.
The contest marks the ninth semifinal appearance for the Bearkat men in their 17 appearances in the Southland tournament.
Ransom scored 19 points, Peters 17 and Terrance Motley 10. Ransom, Peters and Baxter all hit three treys as Sam Houston went 9-for-13 from beyond the arc.
After 18 minutes of nip-and-tuck play in the first half, the Bearkats took control of the game. Michael Holyfield and James Thomas hit two lay-ups and Peters nailed a three-point at the halftime buzzer to give the Kats a 33-26 lead at intermission.
Sam Houston never trailed again. They led by as many as 16 points halfway through the second half and never allowed the Golden Eagles closer than eight points in the final minute.
“We had two really good basketball teams going at it,” SHSU Head Coach Jason Hooten said. “We knew that coming in after our game in Tulsa two weeks ago. We didn't play very good defense that night. They've got so much fire power we knew we had to do a better job defensively tonight if we were going to have a chance. I thought we got great production from every single guy that played tonight. This is such an unselfish team and it's been such a pleasure to coach them.”
Holyfield and Motley led the Bearkats with five rebounds apiece. Holyfield also blocked five shots.
“We're back in the semifinals, facing another really good team in A&M-Corpus Christi,” Hooten said.
The semifinals will be available solely on ESPN3, while the championship game will be covered exclusively ESPN2 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with the championship trophy presentation to be carried live on ESPN3.
The winner of the tournament will receive the Southland's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The selection show is Sunday, March 16 at 5 p.m., CT, on CBS.
Tickets to the 2014 Southland Conference basketball tournament are available now online at www.gobearkats.com or by calling the SHSU ticket office at (936) 294-1729.
This is the seventh consecutive year for the event to be played in Katy. For complete information about the tournament, visit www.Southland.org/katy.
The complete men's tournament schedule:
Wednesday, March 12
Game 1: No. 5 Nicholls 71, No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana 64
Game 2: No. 6 Oral Roberts 66, No. 7 McNeese 62
Thursday, March 13
Game 3: No. 4 Northwestern State 88, No. 5 Nicholls 72
Game 4: No. 3 SAM HOUSTON 70, No. 6 Oral Roberts 61
Friday, March 14
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 Stephen F. Austin, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, March 15
Championship Game, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)