HUNTSVILLE -- Aurimas Majauskas scored a career high 27 points to lead Sam Houston State to an 87-71 win over UNC-Wilmington in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Wednesday at Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats will host Louisiana-Lafayette in the second round of the CIT Saturday at 2 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.
“When you play a team that you've never played before you just don't know what to expect. Watching tape against them we were worried because they are really good,” Bearkat head coach Jason Hooten said. “We shot the ball really well and got off to a great start. When you want to win a game in a tournament you've got to have one guy step up and have an unbelievable night and Aurimas (Majauskas) did that tonight.”
Majauskas came off the bench in the opening minutes and scored six points in quick succession to give Sam Houston a 10-3 lead after five minutes. He started the ballgame shooting 3-for-3. He scored 19 points in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting with three treys.
The sophomore from Lithuania shot lights out from the field, going 9-of-11, and pulled down five rebounds.
With a 21-point lead at halftime, the Bearkats kept the pressure on the Seahawks and rolled to victory. Sam Houston led by as many as 27 points in the second half.
“We beat a really good basketball team tonight. They play in a high-level mid-major basketball conference. It's hard to get games like this at home. But it's good for us when you can get in a tournament like this and host a really good team like UNC-Wilmington,” Hooten said.
After a scoreless first minute and a half to start the game, senior Kaheem Ransom opened the scoring with a jumper in the lane to give SHSU the lead. The Bearkats jumped out to 10-3 lead in the opening minutes.
Ransom finished the game with 11 points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out five assists. Senior guard Jabari Peters also finished the game with 11 points and had six rebounds. Junior guard Paul Baxter added 11 points as well.
The Seahawks used a 5-0 run to cut the Bearkat lead to 10-8 before sophomore Dakarai Henderson hit his first basket of the game to end the run. He finished with nine points in the game.
UNCW tied the game 17-17 with eight minutes left in the first half but Henderson quickly took the ball down the floor and lobbed a pass for Michael Holyfield who dunked it emphatically.
Holyfield got on the end of another lobbed pass, this time from Jabari Peters, to give the Bearkats their largest lead to that point, 26-17, with six minutes left.
The senior post player finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Ransom hit his second 3-pointer of the game to give SHSU a 29-19 lead with 4:40 left in the first half. A pair of free-throws and a three-pointer by Majauskas gave the Kats a 34-21 lead. The sophomore Lithuanian finished the first half with 19 points on
Sam Houston closed the half on an 11-4 run to hold a 46-25 lead at the break.
