Sam Houston Advances In College Insider.com Tournament
By Cheval John
Sam Houston State rebounded from their Southland Conference Tournament Finals lost with a 87-71 win over the University of North Carolina-Wilmington last night during the first round of the College Insider.com Tournament at Johnson Coliseum.
In the process, the Bearkats achieved their 26th win of the season, the most ever since they moved up to the NCAA Division I almost 30 years ago.
The Bearkats shot 43.8 percent from the field and shot 47.4 percent from behind the arc.
What is even better is that Sam Houston State shot 66.7 percent from the three point line in the first half.
Most of those treys in the first half came from Lithuanian national, Aurimas Majauskas.
Majauskas came off the bench and was the main reason why SHSU’s bench outscored UNC-Wilmington’s bench 38-8.
Majauskas led all scorers with 27 points.
The Seahawks (18-14) tied the matchup at 17 with 8:04 left in the first half after Addison Spruill, who finished with 11 points, made a layup in the paint.
That was as close as UNC-Wilmington got as Sam Houston exploded on a 14-2 run, which included an ally-hoop play from Jabari Peters to Michael Holyfield, to expand their lead to 31-19.
By halftime, the Bearkats was leading 46-25.
Holyfield finished the game with a double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds) while Peters had 11 points and 6 rebounds.
Sam Houston plays host to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette this Saturday in the second round of the College Insider Tournament.
UL-Lafayette brings a 21-13 record to this matchup and also former Bearkat coach Bob Marlin in facing his former assistant, current Sam Houston coach Jason Hooten.
Hooten will try to get his 100th win of his head coaching career in this contest.