HUNTSVILLE — Sam Houston turned things around offensively to sprint past Lamar for a 90-70 victory at Johnson Coliseum on Sunday.
The Bearkats (5-4) shot 54 percent from the field and never trailed against their former Southland Conference and WAC rivals to bounce back from a 78-61 loss at Arizona State this past Wednesday in Tempe. In that contest, Sam Houston hit only 35 percent of its shot attempts.
Lamar Wilkerson led the Kats with 24 points on 5 for 10 shooting from 3-point range.
Davon Barnes chipped in 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and Souleyman Doumbia added 12 points with six boards.
Lamar (4-5) stayed within sight of the Bearkats for the first 10 minutes of the game, but that changed at the drop of a hat as the Kats built a 55-29 lead at the break.
Sam Houston got a pair of free throws from Doumbia and a 3-pointer by Wilkerson, who went off in the first half to the tune of 17 points, to go up 28-16 at the 10:33 mark.
Damon Nicholas Jr. answered a Cardinal basket with a 3, and Doumbia knocked down a short jumper as the Kats began to pull away.
Barnes scored on a layup while
Cameron Huefner connected from long range to stretch the lead to 41-21 with just over six minutes left in the half. The biggest lead came at 55-26 following a 3-point basket by freshman
CJ Beaumont right before halftime.
The Cardinals outscored the Bearkats in the second half, but the first-half lead was too much to overcome.
Sam Houston hits the road to face Missouri State on Saturday then returns home to host ULM on Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
