Huntsville – Junior guard Jamal Williams scored a season high 17 points to lead Sam Houston to an 87-76 Southland Conference men's basketball victory over Nicholls Monday.

Williams was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line as Sam Houston upped its season record to 10-9 and earned its fifth league win in six games. Jovante' Spivey added 16 points and Albert Almanza and Dakarai Henderson totaled 13 and 11 points, respectively. Almanza, a red-shirt freshman, made his first college start Monday going 5-for-8 from the field with a trio of three-pointers.

Sam Houston never trailed, going up by as many and 20 points with 3:29 left in the game. In a contest in which the teams were whistled for a combined 53 fouls the Bearkats went 26-of-30 at the charity line (86.7 percent), a season best.

“We really got a great performance from Jamal tonight,” Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said. “He is an exceptional athlete who played 38 minutes for us tonight and we need that from him right now.”

Johnathan Bell of Nicholls led both teams with 27 points. T. J. Carpenter added 18 points as the Colonels dropped to 5-14 for the season and 1-4 in Southland Conference.

Sam Houston scored 38 points in the paint with 14 points coming after offensive rebounds. Led by Torry Butler with six rebounds, the Bearkats out-boarded Nicholls 38-28.

Sam Houston jumped out to a 9-4 lead on a lay-up by Majauskas three minutes into the contest. After Nicholls tied the score at 11 at the 15 minute mark, the Kats went on a 17-7 run to go up by 10 with 6:22 left on a free throw by Jalin Barnes.

Going 12-of-13 from the free throw line and shooting 46 percent in the first half (14-of-30), Sam Houston led by as many as 12 points and took a 10-point 42-32 lead into the locker room at intermission.

The Bearkats take on two-time defending Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches on Saturday afternoon in their next outing.