HBU Men Visit For Rematch Saturday at 4:30
2/12/2016 2:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
For the first time in 17 days, the Sam Houston men's basketball team plays a home game. The Bearkats welcome Houston Baptist to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
The Kats' last home game, a victory over Abilene Christian Monday, January 25, was bookended by a trip to Stephen F. Austin and consecutive road contests at Houston Baptist, Lamar and A&M-Corpus Christi. The Lumberjacks, the Islanders and the Huskies stand first, second and third in the current league standings.
No one is happier to be playing at home than Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten.
“It feels good to be back home,” Hooten said. “It's been a tough three-game stretch. Mix that with the trip to SFA before our last home game and we've played the top three teams in the league practically back-to-back. Every game was close but we didn't come back with as many victories as we wanted. But, across the board, that's consistent with our league this year. The home teams are doing well.”
Sam Houston now gets to face the big three – HBU, SFA and A&M-Corpus Christi – on the Kats' home turf. In fact, five of the team's final seven games will be in Johnson Coliseum.
“It's great to have these teams coming to play us at home now,” Hooten said. “We play better at home with the support of our fans. There's a lot of basketball left in the regular season.”
Houston Baptist edged Sam Houston 70-69 on the margin of a late free throw at HBU's Sharp Gymnasium Saturday January 30. The victory kept HBU unbeaten (8-0) in Southland action. The Huskies enter Saturday's game in Huntsville 8-3 in league action and 14-10 overall.
“Houston Baptist got off to a great start,” Hooten said. “They played well at their place. We got down 13 in the first half and battled back. We're going to have to do better and finish stronger this time.”
Sam Houston owns marks of 12-12 for the year and 6-5 in conference. Four Bearkat players scored in double figures in the first game in Houston. Dakarai Henderson totaled 16 points, Jovante' Spivey and Jamal Williams scored 14 each and Aurimas Majauskas added 12 points. Colter Lasher led HBU with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Henderson, Majauskas and Spivey all are scoring in double figures in Southland Conference play. Henderson is averaging 14.9 points in league games. Majauskas and Spivey are adding 13.5 and 10.0 points, respectively. Sam Houston's other two starters, Jamal Williams and Albert Almanza, are adding 8.6 and 8.1 points as well.
KSAM 101.7 FM in Huntsville will broadcast live play-by-play of the game Saturday.
