NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Sam Houston State Bearkats got 21 points from Chris Galbreath Jr. and held off a frantic New Orleans comeback to hand the Privateers their first loss in conference play, 70-68, on Thursday at Lakefront Arena.

The Berakats (12-6, 3-2 SLC) led by as much as 14 points in the second half, but the Privateers (9-7, 4-1 SLC), who were the last unbeaten team in Southland play came all the way back to tie the game at 67-67 on a three-point play by Travin Thibodeaux with just 1:18 to go.

But Paul Baxter found Galbreath on the ensuing possession for the go-ahead bucket and UNO's Erik Thomas missed the back end of a two-shot foul with just over three seconds to play to give the Kats the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Sam Houston turned in one of its better halves of the season in the first 20 minutes, shooting 51.9 percent from the field and hitting four threes to build up a 35-23 lead at the break.

Baxter pumped in all 10 of his points in the opening half, canning two threes, including one just before the halftime buzzer that put the Kats up a dozen. Galbreath and Majauskas added seven each with Majauskas giving the Kats the lead on a three-point play less than 90 seconds in, a lead they would not surrender until nearly a miute to play in the game.

Sam Houston gave itself some breathing room with a 9-2 early run that started with a dunk from Phillip Jones Jr. and ended with a straightaway three ball from Galbreath that made the score 16-8. The Kats kept UNO at arm's length for the next six minutes before going on a 9-3 run late in the half.

Galbreath got going again early in the second period, scoring on three straight possessions on his way to 14 second-half points to keep the Bearkat lead at 10 points after a quick UNO spurt out of the gate. A quick 7-0 run behind a three from Torry Butler and two more Galbreath scores pushed the lead to its peak at 56-42 with 10:47 left, but that's when the Privateers began to chip away.

UNO got six straight points to trim the lead to single digits, but still trailed by as much as nine with less than six minutes to go. But it took them less than four minutes to get the Sam lead down to just three when Nate Frye hit the second three of the half to make it 67-64 with 2:06 left.

Less than a minute later Thibodeaux turned in his game-tying three-point play, tying it up with a foul shot. In all, the Privateers hit 17-of-19 from the foul stripe in the second half, but after Baxter found Galbreath for the go-ahead score in the post one possession later, Erik Thomas missed his only foul shot of the night and the Kats were able to fight off a Privateer offensive rebound to close it out.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Galbreath hit nine of his 11 shots from the field and finished with 21 points, his second highest scoring output of the season, to go with seven rebounds and a blocked shot. Aurimas Majauskas and Paul Baxter added 10 points apiece, while John Dewey III had eight points to go with six assists and just one turnover from his point guard spot.

KEY STATS
New Orleans stayed in the game with their work at the foul line, hitting 21 of 23 trips to the charity stripe. But the Kats were efficient offensively throughout, shooting 50 percent from the floor and hitting five three-point buckets while owning a decisive 32-10 advantage in points off the bench.

UP NEXT
The Bearkats will now go after their fourth win in a row on Saturday when they head to Natchitoches, La., for a meeting with Northwestern State at Prather Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ESPN3 online platform.