HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Sam Houston took care of business and advanced to the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament with a 78-59 victory over FIU at the Propst Arena on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Bearkats (21-11) face the winner of No. 4 Liberty against No. 5 UTEP, which play Thursday, on Friday with the chance to move on to the tournament finals.
Kian Scroggins was fire for Sam Houston off the bench, scoring 11 points and grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds in the victory. Davon Barnes was the leading scorer with 15 points, Cameron Huefner chipped in 12 and Lamar Wilkerson and Marcus Boykin also added 11.
The Bearkats led by double figures at the half as they did on the road at FIU earlier in the season, a game that saw the Panthers rally to win 68-61.
FIU looked poised for a repeat of that performance when it opened the second half with a 5-0 run to cut it to an 11-point lead. The Kats got a 3 from Barnes and Wilkerson on consecutive possessions to push the lead back to 49-32.
The Kats benefitted from a 7-0 run to begin to put the Panthers away with under nine minutes left in the game. Souleymane Doumbia and Owen McGlashan both scored, and Boykin gave Sam Houston its largest lead of the game at 68-40.
Every time FIU would put something together offensively, Sam Houston would counter which is about how the opening 20 minutes went.
The first half saw a pair of runs go Sam Houston's way as the Bearkats built a double-digit lead at the break.
The Panthers hit a two 3s to jump out to an 8-2 lead, then the Kats came calling.
Damon Nicholas Jr. connected from 3-point range then laid a shot in off the glass to give Sam Houston its first lead at 9-8 which it held the rest of the period. Huefner capped the 16-0 run that put the Kats up 18-8 with a 3 midway through the half as the Panthers went more than seven minutes without scoring.
FIU battled back to trim the lead to five only to see Sam Houston answer again. Scroggins hit a jumper and threw down a dunk to push the lead back to 29-19. Boykin and Huefner then finished off a 10-1 run with back-to-back layups for a 33-19 advantage as the Panthers once again went scoreless for more than four minutes.
The Bearkats struck again right before the intermission when Barnes was fouled while shooting a 3 with less than a second left. He converted all three field goal attempts for s 43-27 halftime lead.
