Jovante' Spivey posted a season-best 18 points and Dakarai Henderson and Aurimas Majauskas added 16 and 15 points, respectively, to lead Sam Houston to a 72-51 Southland Conference men's basketball victory over Abilene Christian Monday night.

Parker Wentz and Duran Porter also scored in double figures to lead Abilene Christian with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

The Bearkats now stand 11-10 for the year and 6-2 in Southland play. The Wildcats dropped to 8-12 and 3-4 in league action.

“This team has bounced back from losses well this year and they did tonight,” Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said. “It was all about defense tonight. We're going to have to get better defensively to get to where we want to be and that's what we did tonight.”

Sam Houston limited ACU to 32.7 percent shooting (17-of-52) from the field.

“That was big,” Hooten said. “We're giving up just 44 percent shooting this year and, to be successful, we need to get that number down below 42.”

After four early tries, Sam Houston took charge with an 11-2 run to go up 24-15 on a jumper by Dakari Henderson with 6:08 in the opening 20 minutes. The Kats finished the period with a 10-4 run to go into the locker room at intermission up 34-19.

The Bearkats out-scored ACU 38-32 in the second half, going up by as many as 29 points in the final 20 minutes.

“We're starting to see what Jovante Spivey can do,” Hooten said. “He put up some big numbers in junior college and we've seen dashes of that in some of our games this year. We're looking for more big nights out of him.”

Sam Houston out-rebounded the Wildcats 40-29 with Majauskas leading the way with eight boards.