FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Bearkats came out on fire and rolled to an 88-50 victory over Northern Illinois Tuesday to advance to the championship game of the Fort Myers Tip-off Palms Division at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
Sam Houston moved to 5-0, the best start since the Kats went 10-0 to begin the 2007-08 season. SHSU will face either South Dakota or Long Island in the title game Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. CST.
Qua Grant led the Bearkats with 19 points and four assists.
Lamar Wilkerson added 15 points and
Donte Powers chipped in 13.
Sam Houston forced 22 turnovers by the Huskies (1-4) with 13 steals and turned it into 34 points in a game that it led for all but two minutes early in the first half.
The two teams traded baskets to start the second half, but the Kats were able to make some shots to build off their 19-point lead at the break.
Grant scored off an offensive rebound, and Wilkerson connected from behind the arc to make it 54-30. Grant then scored again on another second-chance layup to give Sam Houston its biggest lead of the game up until that point with 13 minutes to go.
The Bearkats' defense did not allow the Huskies to get back in the game. NIU shot 40 percent from the floor and 20 percent from 3-point range and fell behind by as many as 36 when
Damon Nicholas Jr. and
Giovanni Emejuru scored from close range and
Jaden Ray drilled a 3 to make it 86-50 in the closing minutes.
Sam Houston, on the other end, shot the lights out of the gym. The Bearkats shot a blistering 52 percent from the field and 55 percent from behind the arc to lead the majority of the contest.
Sam Houston used its defense to open a double-digit lead on the Huskies. The Bearkats held NIU without a field goal for nearly seven minutes after the Huskies took a 4-3 lead early on.
The Kats went on a 16-2 run during that time and took a 19-6 lead thanks to back-to-back 3s by Wilkerson and
Cameron Huefner, who finished with 9 points, midway through the period.
Sam Houston came out on fire from long range. The Bearkats shot 58.3 percent by going 7 for 12 from behind the arc.
The biggest lead of the first half was 36-16 when Powers hit a 3 and Wilkerson knocked down a pullup jumper with 2:16 left to go in the period. The Huskies were able to piece together a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 41-22 at the break.
