SLC Championship Game rematch Saturday at SFA
1/22/2016 3:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
In a rematch of the past two Southland Conference men's basketball tournament championship games, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin duel in Nacogdoches at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
With SFA having reached the NCAA tournament the past two seasons and the Jacks resting only a half-game out of first place in the Southland Conference this year, Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten is expecting another loud crowd Saturday.
“It will be a great college basketball atmosphere,” Hooten said. “With their recent success, it seems their crowd has gotten into it even more. I expect it to be hostile.”
Sam Houston and SFA are meeting for the pair's 196th men's basketball game. The Jacks lead the series 105 to 90. Six first-year Bearkats on the 2016 roster will be introduced to the Piney Woods rivalry in a game with a lot on the line.
Houston Baptist (6-0), A&M-Corpus Christi (5-0) and SFA (5-0) all are still unbeaten in Southland play. The Bearkats (5-1) stand in fourth place currently.
“You take this as another game, even though it's not another game from the fan's standpoint,” Hooten said. “All road games are tough and all road games are big. The three guys who played in the SFA games last year (Aurimas Majauskas, Dakarai Henderson and Jamal Williams) will do the due diligence as far as getting our guys to understand what kind of rivalry it is and what the game will be like.”
The Lumberjacks return five of their top six scorers from last year's team including 2015 Southland men's basketball player-of-the-year Thomas Walkup. He leads SFA in scoring with 16.1 points.
“He's a good player,” Hooten said. “He's tough but he takes good shots. He takes shots he can mak. That's what makes him hard to guard. He's not going to push the envelope and take shots he's not supposed to take. We definitely have to find a way to stop him.”
The Jacks also feature some excellent three-point shooters. Senior forward Clide Geffrard is hitting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. Senior guard Demetrious Floyd is shooting 40.5 percent. Floyd and Geffrard average 12.6 and 12.2 points, respectively.
Majuaskas and Henderson as the Bearkats' top scorers with 14.3 and 13.2 point averages, respectively.
“They will be important for us,” Hooten said. “They have played in two years worth of games with SFA. That experience is something we definitely will lean on.”
Jamal Williams continues to gain experience handling the Bearkats' point guard duties. The 6-4 sophomore is averaging 9.8 points and 6.7 assists per game in Southland play. Redshirt freshman Albert Almanza owns a 9.0 average in league action.
“We have other guys who are stepping up now,” Hooten said. “We're becoming a team, not a team that just depends on two guys.”
The Sam Houston vs. Stephen F. Austin men's basketball game will be broadcast live on KSAM 101.7 FM. The Bearkats' next action following the trip to SFA will be a home game Monday at 6:30 p.m. against Abilene Christian.
