Kats battle wire to wire in loss to Flames

Saturday, March 7

Lynchburg, Va.

1:00 PM

21-10,13-7CUSA

Liberty

25-6,17-3CUSA

Sam Houston

Liberty

Photo by: Brock Parker

Kats battle wire to wire in loss to Flames

3/7/2026 3:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

LYNCHBURG, Va. — A short-handed Sam Houston squad pushed the regular season CUSA champs to the limit only to come up just short in a 79-72 loss at Liberty on Saturday afternoon at Liberty Arena.

The Bearkats, who were down to just seven players, fought until the end, but just didn't have enough left in the tank as they dropped their second straight on the road to close out the regular season. Leading scorer Po'Boigh King missed his second consecutive game as a precaution after injuring his back in warmups at Delaware on Thursday.

Veljko Ilic had one of his best games of the season, leading the way with 21 points, including some key buckets that helped Sam Houston (21-10, 13-7) erase a 17-point deficit in the second half. Kashie Natt posted his seventh double-double of the season with 16 rebounds and 11 points.

Natt made a 3 to start a 11-0 run after Sam Houston fell behind by 17 to open the second half. Ilic made two shots in a row, Jacob Walker, who pitched in 13 points, also laid a basket in off the glass and Ilic followed to trim the advantage to 59-53 with just under nine minutes to go in the game.

Liberty finally ended the run, but Damon Nicholas Jr., who finished with 10 points, drilled a 3 from the right arc to make it 65-61. A defensive stop resulted in another 3, this time by Jacobe Coleman to make it a one-point game a few minutes later.

Sam Houston was able to tie it on a putback floater by Coleman, but Liberty retook the lead at 70-68. Ilic was fouled and made a free throw to pull the Kats back to within one.

The Flames were able to get to the line and got a timely 3 to spoil Sam Houston's upset bid.

The game was close for most of the first half. Sam Houston grabbed a 13-11 lead thanks to back-to-back baskets by freshman Matt Dann, the first a two-handed dunk off a great pass from Natt at the 13:11 mark.

The Kats fell behind by 10 when Natt was able to make a driving layup and drew a foul. He knocked in the free throw to cut Liberty's lead to 38-31 with 44 seconds left in the half.

The Flames answered with a 3 on the other end, however, to go into the break with a double-digit lead.

Sam Houston will head to Huntsville, Alabama next week as the second seed in the Conference USA Championships. The Bearkats will play the winner between the seventh and 10^th seed, which play Tuesday, on Wednesday evening at 8 on ESPN+.