Bearkats battle Southland 3rd place Islanders
2/6/2015 11:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sam Houston (17-5, SLC 9-1) plays host to A&M-Corpus Christi (12-9, SLC 7-2) Saturday in a match-up of the squads in second and third place, respectively, in the Southland Conference 2015 men's basketball race.
The Bearkats and the Islanders tipoff at 4:30 p.m. (or 30 minutes after the women's game ends) in the nightcap of a Southland doubleheader at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Both teams are seeking to keep pace with Stephen F. Austin's first place Lumberjacks who are unbeaten in league play. Saturday's contest is the first of two meetings between the pair. The SHSU men travel to Corpus Christi on Saturday February 28.
The SHSU men are off to their best season and Southland start since the 2010 conference championship team opened 19-5 and started league action with an 11-0 mark.
A consistent starting line-up has been a trademark of both this year's squad and the 2013-14 team that reached the Southland Conference Tournament finals and earned a post-season berth in the CIT.
Head coach Jason Hooten started the same line-up all 35 games last year. Four of those players have started each contest in 2015.
This year's starters have played a combined 400 games including 360 total starts.
Junior guard Paul Baxter has started 78 consecutive games for the Bearkats while senior post player Michael Holyfield has 61 straight starts.
Seniors Jabari Peters and Kaheem Ransom each have started all 57 games the past two seasons. Senior DeMarcus Gatlin has 15 consecutive starts this year with 70 overall in his career.
The five starters plus top reserves Dakarai Henderson and Aurimas Majauskas give Sam Houston a balanced attack with all seven players averaging 7.5 points per game or more.
Sam Houston has had games with five players in double figures four times and four players in double digits on seven occasions.
A&M-Corpus Christi brings a squad to Johnson Coliseum that also has a hot hand of late.
The Islanders have won five of their last six games. Their only conference losses are to Lamar and SFA.
John Jordan, a 5-10 senior guard, leads A&M-Corpus Christi in scoring with 15.9 points per game. Rashawn Thomas, 6-8 sophomore forward, adds 14.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest.
Sam Houston leads the Southland in scoring defense (60.0), scoring margin (15.2), field goal pct. defense (.382) and three-point pct. defense (.295). The Kats stand No. 11 in the nation in scoring margin and No. 26 nationally in field goal pct. defense.
The Islanders also feature a stingy defense that is allowing opponents 66.2 points per game.
Saturday's contest will be broadcast live in the Walker County area on KSAM 101.7 FM.
