By Cody Stark
Assistant Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE — The Bearkats have one more road contest before returning to Johnson Coliseum for the final two home games of the season and it’s a big one.
Sam Houston State travels to Texas-San Antonio today to face the Roadrunners at 7 p.m.
The Bearkats are looking to remain unbeaten in the Southland Conference, but will face a hostile crowd at the Convocation Center. Today’s game is UTSA’s homecoming and the Roadrunners are coming off a huge win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
“They have won three out of their last four and have a good team with a lot of seniors,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “They won their first two conference games, then went in a skid that we were a part of. But they have gotten things back on track.
“It will be a tough place to play, but we usually play well there and hopefully we will (today).”
Sam Houston (11-0 in SLC, 19-5 overall) began this recent two-game road swing with a 66-44 victory over Lamar on Wednesday.
Senior forward Preston Brown and junior forward Gilberto Clavell combined to torch the Cardinals for 37 points and 16 rebounds. The Bearkats shot 46 percent from the field and 43 percent from long range to control the game from the opening tip.
Sam Houston also turned in a solid defensive effort in the first half, holding Lamar to just 6-of-29, or 21 percent shooting, which proved to be the difference.
“Putting two halves together is going to be crucial if we want to continue our success,” Marlin said. “We were good defensively at Lamar for a stretch and we need to continue to play good defense. We just need to take care of the ball and not foul. That’s what hurt us at Lamar.”
The Roadrunners (5-6, 15-9) kept their Southland Conference tournament hopes alive with a 57-56 victory over the Islanders, who were tied for second place going into Wednesday.
UTSA was at the bottom of the West Division standings, but have gotten hot lately, winning two straight, including a 63-61 home win over Texas-Arlingon on Feb. 13.
The Roadrunners have already lost to Sam Houston once this season. The Bearkats overcame a slow start and closed the first half with a 13-0 run to hold on for a 73-67 victory at Johnson Coliseum on Feb. 3.
The Kats need to get off to a quick start and carry it over to the second half if they want to bring their perfect SLC mark back to Huntsville.
“We have been a good first-half team most of the season, and we have had some good finishes to close the half,” Marlin said. “We just have to maintain it and make every possession count. We have to be patient and get good looks.
“I look for the guys to come out and have a good shooting night.”
