Defense Key As Kats Advance To Face Islanders
3/14/2014 8:01:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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There was no better time to get their biggest victory of the season and the Bearkats got it done when it really counted.
Sam Houston's 70-61 victory over Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals of the Southland Tournament in Katy Thursday night has put the SHSU men in the semifinals Friday versus No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Defense is what got the Kats there.
An unsuccessful road trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma earlier this month came up empty for Sam Houston State, as the Kats fell to Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts in consecutive games within a span of three days.
The Bearkats haven't lost since and the winning continued Thursday night with an 80-71 victory over Oral Roberts in the Southland Conference tournament quarterfinals.
The difference was not only spot-on shooting by Sam Houston, but also the neutralizing of Golden Eagles leading scorers Shawn Glover and Korey Billbury.
Glover, who led Oral Roberts on the season with 21.5 points per game, finished with a paltry 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field. Billbury carried the Golden Eagles offensively for much of the game, but was limited after picking up his fourth foul with 10:05 left to play.
Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said the Kats had a goal of limiting the Glover-Billbury combination to less than 30 points after they combined for 50 in Tulsa, Okla., on March 1.
The two players totaled 34 points, but it was close enough to the goal for Sam Houston's shooting to make up the difference.
“Last time, we tried to double-team Glover and when we did that, we left some guys open that usually don't score a lot points for them and those guys made some shots,” Hooten said. “So as a staff, we just talked about Glover is going to get his, regardless of what you do. We just can't let those other guys do that. We were pretty close to our goal tonight.”
The Bearkats went through stretches when they couldn't miss, whether it was from the 3-point or free throw line. Sam Houston shot 6-of-7 from long range in the first half, which included a corner jumper by Jabari Peters as time expired before the break.
Paul Baxter had already made a pair of 3s and Kaheem Ransom was also a perfect 3-for-3 from distance after banking one in and converting another into a four-point play.
“I thought the shot right before halftime was huge,” Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton said. “It just kind of deflates us and they go in with all of the momentum. In the second half, I thought when they made their run they hit more 3s. We tried to go zone just to maybe get them out of rhythm a little bit.
“Sometimes, as crazy as that sounds, it helps even when a team is shooting well from 3-point range. Obviously it didn't affect them. They jumped up and made a couple more.”
This was the offensive performance Sam Houston knew it was capable of all along. It's defensively where the Kats have evolved in the last few games.
Baxter and junior center Michael Holyfield have been the defensive catalysts for Sam Houston and both were true to form against Oral Roberts. Holyfield finished with a game-high five blocks.
Baxter came up with two defensive plays down the stretch that went a long way toward solidifying a semifinal berth for the Bearkats.
Close to the two-minute mark, Sam Houston post James Thomas appeared to have traveled but there was a no whistle. Thomas threw a wild pass to Baxter, who then passed it to Peters. But Glover came up with a steal. As the Golden Eagles' leading scorer dribbled across halfcourt, Baxter made the heady decision to deflect the ball into the backcourt for Peters to retrieve it.
Sam Houston's 16-point lead had slimmed down to a nine at that point, but gave the Kats an extra possession with a fresh shot clock.
Oral Roberts got the ball back after Peters knocked down a pair of free throws and Baxter this time stripped a driving Brandon Conley. The Bearkats finished with eight steals, seven of which came from the same sharp-shooting starters Ransom, Peters and Baxter.
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Baxter said. “He put the ball in front of me. The first time, Glover got the steal and he was pushing up the court and he didn't see me. I just happened to poke it out. The next time, they just put it right in front of me. I knew I had four fouls so I tried to do something. I knew I couldn't let him get a layup.”
The Golden Eagles were critical of themselves after the game for losing focus and trying to play too much individual basketball instead of a team game.
Glover, the only upperclassman in the Oral Roberts starting lineup, was visibly frustrated when it wasn't going the Golden Eagles' way early on.
Conley even questioned Glover's leadership in post-game press conference.
“He is our oldest player and if I see him with his head down, that kind of rubs off on everybody else and so everybody else is thinking down,” Conley said. “That just puts everybody else into a bad mood and it's just hard to overcome that whenever you see your main person with his head down.”
Sam Houston faces second-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the semifinal round tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Bearkats beat the Islanders 78-74 on Jan. 30 in the team's only matchup this season.
The winner moves on to play in the championship game Saturday against either top-seeded Stephen F. Austin or No. 4 seed Northwestern State.
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)
