Aurimas Majauskas hit a go-ahead layup with 7.9 seconds left before Louisiana-Lafayette's Jay Wright answered with a game-winning three-pointer with 0.9 seconds left to win it 71-70. It was a tightly contested game in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament with 11 lead changes.
“I thought we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole in the first half but I knew our guys would respond,” Bearkat head coach Jason Hooten said. “We came out and outplayed them in the second half. We just needed one more stop. You've got to give it to (Wright), he was the player of the game.”
Wright finished with a 19 points to lead the Cajuns.
The Bearkats season ends with a 26-9 record, the most victories in an NCAA Division I men's basketball season for an SHSU squad.
After trailing 38-29 at halftime, DeMarcus Gatlin opened the second half with a layup, a free-throw and a tip-in basket to cut the ULL lead to 38-34 in the first minute. The senior finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bearkats first lead of the game came when senior post player Michael Holyfield made two free-throws to give Sam Houston a 41-40 advantage with 16:30 left in the game. He finished with five points and eight rebounds.
A 16-2 run by the Kats to open the second half put them ahead 45-40. ULL then took a 5-0 run to tie the game back up 45-45.
From there the margin was never more than four points the rest of the way.
Dakarai Henderson hit a clutch 3-pointer and then on the next position was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free-throws to give SHSU a 63-69 lead. The sophomore guard finished with 16 points, including a trio of treys.
Paul Baxter also added 10 points for the Bearkats.
For the game Sam Houston was 14-of-24 from the charity stripe while ULL hit 18-of-25.
The Bearkats made their first two 3-point shots of the game to jump out to a 6-2 lead over the Cajuns in the opening minutes.
After ULL had taken an 8-6 lead, Dakarai Henderson came off the bench to hit his first trey to retake the lead. A Cajun 3-pointer and a fast-break layup after a turnover gave ULL a 13-9 lead.
The first four Bearkat baskets were all 3-pointers. Sam Houston's first two-point basket, a layup by Jabari Peters, cut the ULL lead to 16-14.
Aurimas Majauskas and Michael Holyfield both picked up two fouls in the first 10 minutes of the ballgame relegating them to the bench for the remainder of the first half.
Minutes later DeMarcus Gatlin was called for his second foul and had to head to the bench.
The Cajuns went on a 7-0 run to extend their advantage to 23-14. Four of those points were from the free-throw line. Henderson ended the run with two makes from the charity stripe.
Holyfield and Gatlin both came back into the game and just before halftime picked up their third fouls of the contest. ULL took a nine point lead into the locker room.
