MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee got the benefits of playing at home in a 74-70 victory over Sam Houston on Saturday at the Murphy Center.
The loss snapped the Bearkats' three-game winning streak as the calls and breaks down the stretch once again went the other way as Sam Houston erased an eight-point deficit at the half.
Lamar Wilkerson had another impressive outing for the Kats (11-17, 4-11 CUSA) with a game-high 24 points on 5 for 6 shooting from 3-point land while
Cameron Huefner added 10.
The Kats trailed 69-67 when the Blue Raiders (18-9, 9-5) scored to make it a two-possession game with under 12 seconds to go.
Erik Taylor, who was clutch on this road trip for Sam Houston, scoring 11 in the blowout win over Western Kentucky on Thursday, drove the lane and made it a one-point game with eight clicks left on the game clock.
Middle Tennessee was able to close it out at the line to hold on for the win. The Bearkats have lost all 11 league games by less than double-digits.
Taylor finished with 11 points,
Kalifa Sakho had nine points and four blocks and
Marcus Boykin finished with eight points.
Sam Houston made some shots in the first half, connecting on 44 percent of its attempts. The Kats also shot lights out from behind the arc, going 6 for 9.
But Middle Tennessee wasn't missing much on its end either. The Blue Raiders built a 39-31 lead at the break by shooting 50 percent from the floor, sinking 15 of 30 field goal attempts including a 7 for 13 performance from 3.
Sam Houston fell behind because of a four-minute scoring drought that saw a 20-18 advantage following back-to-back 3s from Taylor, turn into a 33-25 deficit.
Cameron Huefner finally ended the drought with a floater in the lane only to see the Blue Raiders answer with consecutive 3s of their own.
The Bearkats are done traveling in the regular season as they play three straight home games before heading to Huntsville, Alabama for the CUSA Tournament March 11. Sam Houston hosts Louisiana Tech on March 1 at 4:30 p.m.
