Led by Jabari Peters with 14 points, Sam Houston kept its position atop the Southland Conference men's basketball standings with a 70-42 victory over Central Arkansas in Conway Saturday afternoon.

The SHSU men upped their league record to 13-1 to maintain a half-game lead over defending champion and preseason favorite Stephen F. Austin.

The contest was the first of four road games for Sam Houston in their final five contests for the 2015 regular season. Next up is a trip to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Corpus, the team that handed SFA its only league loss of the year. Sam Houston is 7-4 on the road this season (6-0 in conference play.)

“We got off to a good start,” head coach Jason Hooten said. “We talked before the game about coming out and being aggressive. We got 32 free throws and forced them into 22 turnovers while committing only 12 ourselves.”

DeMarcus Gatlin, Kaheem Ransom and Jamal Williams all added nine points. Williams also led the Kats with seven rebounds.

The victory extends Sam Houston's current winning streak to eight games. The Kats have won 17 of their last 18 games to run their season record to 22-5.

That mark stands as the best start for an SHSU men's basketball team since the 1986 squad opened 24-3 on the way to an appearance in the 1986 NCAA Division II regionals.

The Bearkats never trailed, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes and going up 20-6 on a basket by freshman Williams with 10:45 left in the opening half. Another field goal by Williams gave the SHSU men their biggest lead of the first half, 39-11, just before intermission.

Sam Houston went into the locker room at intermission up 40-17 after shooting 44.8 percent (13-of-29) while holding UCA to 28 per cent (7-of-25) in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, Williams hit another layup with 3:44 to play to give the Kats their biggest lead of the game, 31 points, 68-37.