HUNTSVILLE — It took a half to shake off the rust of not playing at home for more than two weeks, but the Bearkats managed just fine once it happened.
Sam Houston overcame an off-shooting night in the first 20 minutes to deal Texas Southern an 87-71 loss at Johnson Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. It was only the Bearkats (5-5) second home game of the season as they improved to 2-0 in Huntsville.
Lamar Wilkerson paced Sam Houston with a game-high 26 points on 8 for 13 from 3-point range.
Cameron Huefner had a season-high 22 points, and
Dorian Finister added 13 as the Kats had to battle out of a halftime deficit.
The Tigers made a basket to open the second half and put the pressure on Sam Houston with a six-point lead. But the Bearkat answered with a 10-0 run.
Finister gave Sam Houston its first lead since the first half on a putback then Wilkerson followed with his fourth 3 of the game up to that point to make it 42-38.
Cameron Huefner got hot from long range and drilled a pair of 3s as the Kats began to put some distanced between themselves and TSU with a 53-44 advantage.
Wilkerson buried a 3 to extend it to 60-49 and it served as a precursor to what was coming. He basically put the game out of reach with his seventh 3 following a powerful dunk by
Kalifa Sakho to stretch the lead to 74-61.
The Bearkats scorched the nets in the second half after shooting just 33 percent from the floor to begin the game. Sam Houston almost couldn't miss coming out of the break, hitting 64 percent with nine 3-point baskets.
Texas Southern took its first lead of the game at 16-15 after falling in an early hole when Huefner hit a floater on the baseline and Finister connected from behind the arc.
Down 26-21, Burns got a steal on an inbound after the Bearkats turned the ball over. He dribbled through the lane then kicked it out to a wide-open
Josiah Hammons for a 3 to trim the lead to two.
After a defensive stop, Wilkerson drilled a 3 from the left corner to put Sam Houston back on top 27-26 three and a half minutes to go. The Tigers wouldn't go away and made some clutch shots down the stretch to build a 36-32 lead at the half.
The Bearkats remain home to host St. Thomas on Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
