Bearkat MBB Extends Win Streak To Three Games
by Cheval John
The Sam Houston State Bearkat basketball team extended their win streak to three games with an 89-53 beat down over Huston-Tillotson Rams.
SHSU (6-5) shot 50.7% from the field and went 40% from the three point line.
Most of the three point shooting came from junior transfer guard Jeremy McKay.
McKay made four of seven treys and finished with 16 points, four rebounds and an assist.
Both teams played tight early in the first half as they were five lead changes.
Though the Rams (2-11) led 10-7, the Bearkats went on a 10-0 run to retake the lead at 17-10 behind junior guard Aaron Harwell’s three maded shots and junior transfer forward James Thomas’ back-to-back buckets.
The Rams pulled twice with a score to tie the match, but the Bearkats hang on to the lead at 38-30 by halftime.
“I wasn’t happy with our first half,” head coach Jason Hooten said.
“I thought we didn’t came out with energy.”
That energy came in the second half as the Bearkats opened on a 13-2 run that included McKay three straight treys to widened the gap at 50-33.
They didn’t looked back as they cruised to an 89-53 win.
Marquel McKinney totaled 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and four steals.
Terrance Motley and Darius Gatson each had 11 points.
The Bearkats will take a long week off before they face their final non-conference opponent Howard Payne on December 29.
Playoff Fever Spreading In Huntsville, TX
by Cheval John
NCAA FCS playoff fever has spread throughout the nation.
It’s not more evident than in the city of Huntsville, TX.
Huntsville, home of Sam Houston State University with a population of about 39,000, have been in a frenzy since the Bearkat football team have made the FCS playoffs for the second consecutive year after finishing the season at 8-3 overall and claimed a share of the Southland Conference title.
Now, they are one game away from returning to the FCS national championship game after they slaughtered Montana State Bobcats 34-15 in Bozeman, Montana last Friday.
Bearkat fans gathered either in Huntsville area bars or across the country (in the case of SHSU’s alumni base) to watch the matchup between the Bearkats and Bobcats that was televised nationally on ESPN2.
Many people who have lived in Huntsville and have been around to see the Bearkat athletic teams have said that they have not seen anything like this.
They have good reason to say that because before, the Bearkat football team have made the playoffs a total of four times since becoming a member of the NCAA Division I in 1986.
Those four playoff appearances happened in 1986, 1991, 2001, and 2004 under Ron Randleman.
After Randleman’s retirement in 2004, Todd Whitten served as head coach from 2005-2009 without much success and was fired.
When SHSU’s athletic director, Bobby Williams hired Willie Fritz, many were hoping for a renaissance of the football program.
After a 6-5 campaign in 2010, people started to believe that great things was going to happen in his second year.
Before the 2011 season began, the SLC’s pre-season polls expected the Bearkats to finished fourth in the conference because they only had 12 seniors on the team.
The Bearkats did the opposite: finished the regular season at 11-0, won their fourth SLC title (first undisputed), were the No.1 seed in the FCS playoffs and brought the Bearkat nation together.
From there, they defeated No. 7 Stony Brook, Montana State and Montana to reach the title game in Frisco, TX where they fell short against North Dakota State.
With the playoff fever amidst in Huntsville, the Bearkats know that they have to play extremely well against No.2 seeded Eastern Washington on Saturday at 3 p.m. if they want to make it back to Frisco.
What they also know is that playoff fever is amdst in Huntsville with a loyal fan base with who will be watching them on ESPNU and cheering them on to victory.
Bearkats-Aggies Face Off Today At Kyle Field
by Cheval John
Everyone have been looking forward to the matchup between Sam Houston State Bearkats and Texas A&M Aggies since it was announced earlier this year.
Bearkats fans were in high gear since they finished at 14-1 as NCAA FCS finalist while Aggies fans were excited to be playing their first season in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Now the day is here when the Bearkats (8-2 overall, 6-1 Southland Conference) square off against the Aggies (8-2 overall, 5-2 SEC) today at Kyle Field in College Station at 2:30 p.m.
The game is sold out to capacity and is available on Fox Sports Southwest via Pay Per View in the state of Texas and on ESPN Game Plan nationwide.
Here are some players to keep an eye on in this game:
Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M
Johnny “Football” Manziel has played lights out for the Aggies this season.
The freshman quarterback has passed for 2,780 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed for 1,014 yards and 15 touchdowns.
He’s only the second freshman to ever pass for 2,000 yards and rushed for 1,000 yards in NCAA FBS history (Brad Smith of Missouri did this in 2002).
He was the arquitect behind A&M’s 29-24 “upset” of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, when he passed for 294 yards and 2 scores.
Many are looking for him to have a huge day against the Bearkats.
Ryan Swope, Texas A&M
Swope is the go-to guy for this A&M offense.
The senior receiver has 236 catches for 2,956 yards and 22 touchdowns in career for the Aggies.
He needs 136 yards to break A&M’s school record for reception yards.
He also has 13 career 100 yards receiving which is also a school record.
Look for him to have a big day.
Deamontre Moore, Texas A&M
Moore has been the anchor for the A&M defense.
The junior defensive lineman leads the team in tackles and is ranked No.2 in the nation in tackles for losses (2.00 per game) and averages 1.5 sacks per game.
Brian Bell, SHSU
Bell is not flashy as Manziel, but has been managed the Bearkat offense efficiently.
The junior is 27-6 as a starter and has passed for 45 touchdowns, the most in SHSU history.
He has a 5,333 career passing yards which is second in SHSU.
Timothy Flanders, SHSU
What more can you say about Flanders.
He has made his name known in the nation and at SHSU.
The junior All-American and Walter Payton Award candidate has twenty-two 100 yard games and is the all-time leading rusher for SHSU (3,679). That mark also ranks him at No.6 in the Southland Conference.
He scored 51 career rushing touchdowns which puts him at No.2 in the SLC.
The Bearkat defense
The Bearkat defense has been been solid throughout the season.
They are ranked No.3 in the nation in rushing defense (68.3 per game) and No.5 in total defense (283.2 per game).
During their seven-game winning streak, they have held opponents to an average 255.4 yard and allowed only 83 total points.
The prediction:
Many analyst in major media from CBS Sports to ESPN have already predicted an Aggie win because of the opponent that A&M faces today.
Me, I am not going to do that.
Instead, I am going to predict that this game will be closer than everyone thinks because SHSU is no chump team.
Many forget that the Bearkats had an 20-10 lead at halftime against Baylor earlier in the season and kept it close at 24-23 in the fourth quarter before they eventually lost 48-23.
Though A&M have an all-time record of 10-0-1 against the Bearkats, anything can happen.
This will be a game that both Bearkat fans and Aggie fans will never forget.
Bearkats Volleyball’s 13-Game Win Streak Snapped By Demons
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Natchitoches, La. – Sam Houston’s 13-match volleyball winning streak ended Tuesday night as Northwestern State shut out the Bearkats in three sets 25-21 25-21 25-22.
The Demons extended their winning streak to eight matches and produced only the second 20-victory season in Northwestern State volleyball history with the win.
The contest pitted Southland leader Sam Houston with third place Northwestern State.
Coming into the match the Kats held a half-match advantage over Central Arkansas in the stands.
SHSU drops to 18-10 for the year and 13-3 in Southland play.
The Demons now are 20-8 overall and 12-4 in league action.
Kendall Cleveland led both teams with 16 kills and Deveney Wells-Gibson added 14 as Sam Houston totaled 38 kills.
Setter Tayler Gray assisted on 33 of the kills.
Stacey Difrancesco led the Demons with 12 kills.
Perhaps her most important point came in the first set with the score tied 20-20.
Difrancesco put away a kill that started a 5-1 run for Northwestern State to win the first set.
The Demons jumped out to a 4-1 margin in the second frame and never trailed in a closely fought set.
Sam Houston held a brief 8-7 lead in the third set and were down only one at 20-19.
But Northwestern State closed out the match by winning five of the next eight points.
Sam Houston will complete the regular season with home matches Thursday at 7 p.m. against McNeese State and Saturday at 3 p.m. with Lamar.
Bearkat Football Soars To New Heights Under Coach Fritz
by Cheval John
Though there is no such thing as moral victories, the Sam Houston State Bearkat football team have accomplished more under head coach Willie Fritz.
Before the arrival of coach Fritz, the Bearkats have made only four appearances in the NCAA FCS playoffs (1986, 1991, 2001, 2004) during their 26 years of competition at the Division I level.
But under Fritz, the Bearkats have made back-to-back appearances in the FCS National Championship game and brought pride to the city of Huntsville, the students and alumni of Sam Houston State.
In addition, the Bearkats have made more television appearances in the last two years either nationally or regionally and applications to the university has sky-rocketed over that same period of time.
Though they run to the FCS title game in 2011 was great, their 2012 run was even more impressive because they only had three regular season home games and had to go through three teams, who were the tri-champions in what is considered to be the toughest conference in the FCS, the Big Sky.
Ron Randleman, who was the head coach of SHSU from 1982 to 2004, is not surprised with the success of coach Fritz.
“Coach Fritz has a special way with people. Randleman said. ”
He’s put together a quality staff and these guys gave worked very hard to get to where we are today because it’s not easy to get there.”
Fritz played for Randleman while he was at Pittsburg State from 1979-82. and
He later served as a graduate assistant under Randleman in 1984-85 at SHSU and again in 1991-92 as as an assistant coach.
When he was hired as the head coach in December of 2009, the Bearkats was reeling from two consecutive losing seasons.
Many knew that coach Fritz was going to turn things around because of his reputation of turning programs that previously had losing seasons into winning teams.
After going 6-5, many believed that they were going to do better in the 2011 season by winning the SLC title.
The Bearkats exceeded their expectations and went 11-0 in the regular season and won the SLC title for the fourth time and won three straight playoffs games to make their first appearance in the FCS title game.
It seemed as they were not going to get back to the FCS title game because they only had three regular season home games and had brought in three new assistant coaches on the offensive side of the ball.
But coach Fritz and the Bearkats had other ideas as they went 8-3 and won their second consecutive SLC title and made it back to the playoffs and went through Cal Poly at home and defeated Montana State and Eastern Washington on the road to return to the title game.
Though they lost, one thing is for certain, the Bearkat football program has gone to new heights under coach Fritz.
But the most important thing is that coach Fritz is following in the footsteps of Coach Randleman because the players has conducted themselves with dignity and respect and have brought great pride to the university.
Maybe, that alone is a moral victory after all.
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