Kats & Jacks Battle for NCAA Berth In Katy
3/15/2014 9:14:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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The Southland Conference tournament championship contestants are set.
Get ready for a Battle of the Piney Woods basketball edition Saturday night at the Leonard Merrell Center in Katy (and on ESPN2).
Third-seed Sam Houston State advanced past No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night with a 69-63 victory and will get another shot at top seed Stephen F. Austin in tonight's championship game.
“We're looking forward to it,” senior James Thomas said. “It's a big game. In my two years here, we haven't beaten SFA yet. That's how I want to go out by the time I leave. I just want us as a team to get this win and they beat us in the regular season, too. It would be real special to get them on this stage.”
It's fitting since these are the only two programs in the league to appear in the Southland Conference tournament every year since 2007, when the postseason tournament was moved to a neutral site.
Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin have met in the Southland finals twice before, with the Bearkats winning (in both 2003 and 2010).
This will be a rematch of the 2010 championship game, but with an entirely new cast on both sides. Even the head coaches are different.
Sam Houston was the favorite to win four years ago after going 14-2 in conference action. This time, Stephen F. Austin carries a historic undefeated league record into the championship game. The Lumberjacks have not been beaten since Nov. 23, rattling off 27 straight wins, and haven't lost to a team from the Southland since last year's conference tourney.
Sam Houston went 0-2 against Stephen F. Austin in the regular season and no player on the roster has ever been part of a victory against the archrival. The last time Sam Houston beat Stephen F. Austin was three years ago in the conference tournament before falling to eventual champion UTSA.
Tonight's opportunity is one the Bearkats have been working toward all year long.
“We kind of expect to be here in this game and kind of disappointed when we're not,” Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said of advancing to the final round. “So to sit here and tell you we didn't think we'd be playing here tomorrow night, I mean, we did. That's what we thought we'd be doing.”
This win was totally different than the previous one against Oral Roberts in the quarterfinal round Thursday night, when the Kats made 9-of-14 shots from behind the 3-point line.
Sam Houston shot just 22 percent in the second half of Friday's contest after hitting 56 percent from the field in the opening period. The second half also included a nearly seven-and-a half minute dry spell without a field goal and a 1-of-10 shooting performance from long range.
Kaheem Ransom led the Kats with a game-high 15 points and also came away with three steals. Jabari Peters, despite shooting just 2-of-11 from the field, finished with 11 points and made seven of his nine free throw attempts.
Hooten said this was perhaps the best all-around game Thomas has put in all year, with 12 points and his six free throws that all came in the second half.
Key reserves Terrance Motley and Dakarai Henderson provided a lift for the Bearkats in the first half. Henderson finished with eight points in only nine minutes of action, while Motley's seven points and six rebounds came in just 12 minutes.
“That's the beauty of our team. We're 11-deep,” Hooten said. “We struggled a bit offensively early and Dakarai is as good of an offensive player as you could find. I stuck him in and he gave us a great spark. He was ready to play and I thought he would be.”
Today's championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., at the Merrell Center in Katy. Stephen F. Austin looks to become the first to win both the regular season and conference championship since the Bearkats did it in 2010.
“Last game for all of the marbles,” Ransom said. “It's going to be exciting. They're well-coached. They play defense really well and they get after it. It's going to be a great game and I'm looking forward to it.”
Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Merrell Center, Katy
Wednesday
Game 1: No. 5 Nicholls 71, No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana 64
Game 2: No. 6 Oral Roberts 66, No. 7 McNeese State 62
Thursday
Game 3: No. 4 Northwestern State 88, No. 5 Nicholls 72
Game 4: No. 3 Sam Houston State 70, No. 6 Oral Roberts 61
Friday
Game 5: No. 1 Stephen F. Austin 85, No. 4 Northwestern State 78
Game 6: No. 3 Sam Houston State 69, No. 2 A&M-Corpus Christi 63
Today
Sam Houston vs. Stephen F. Austin, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
