By Cody Stark
There wasn’t any doubt how this one was going to turn out.
The Bearkats came out firing and kept pouring it on in the second half to disassemble Lamar 90-63 Wednesday night at Johnson Colieum.
Senior guards Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell combined for 38 points to ensure a battle between the only two undefeated teams in Southland Conference play on Saturday when Sam Houston State (5-0 in SLC, 13-5 overall) heads to Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi (5-0, 11-8).
Wednesday’s game got off to a slow start, but the Bearkats jumped on the Cardinals early thanks to Allmond. The first-team All-SLC selection scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first half.
Allmond scored 11 straight SHSU points to help the Bearkats build a 23-12 lead when he knocked down the second of his four 3-pointers at the 11:34 mark. Lamar cut the advantage to nine thanks to a bucket by Lawrence Nwevo 14 seconds later, but never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“Last year against them I only had six points for the game,” Allmond said. “The person who really got it going was Drae (Murray). I think he had 18 or 20 (points against Lamar) last year. I already knew coming in I wanted to get to the hole right away. Sometimes you get in that zone, and when I’m in that zone I don’t see anyone else, just that rim.”
The Bearkats led by 18 points in the second half of last Saturday’s 67-64 win at Texas-Arlington. But Sam Houston missed some wide-open looks and couldn’t put the Mavericks away.
Wednesday was different. The Kats took a 48-31 lead into the break. The Cardinals came out and knocked down some shots to start the second half, but Sam Houston answered.
Senior forward Preston Brown hit a pair of 3s and Allmond added another to put the Kats up 62-42 at the 15:30 mark. The game got out of hand after that.
Sam Houston hit 31 of 58, or 53 percent, from the field in the contest while holding Lamar to 20 of 55 (36 percent). The Kats also controlled the glass, outrebounding the Cardinals 41-31.
“We got off to a good start in the first half and we did that at Arlington,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “But we got loose with the ball, didn’t make shots and that was the difference. We let them get back in that game and tonight we did not do that.”
The Bearkats controlled every aspect of Wednesday night’s win and led wire to wire despite playing most of the game without two of their top post players.
Leading scorer Gilberto Clavell got into early foul trouble. He fouled out midway through the second half and failed to score for the first time this season.
Sophomore Antuan Bootle also got into foul trouble, but managed to finish with eight points and 11 boards in 15 minutes.
With those two on the bench, several players stepped up for Sam Houston. Brown finished with 12 points and six boards. Freshman forward Aaron Thompson and junior Josten Crow both added seven points, while junior guard Lance Pevehouse chipped in nine points.
The Bearkats’ bench outscored the Cardinals’ reserves 37-18. Murray (five points), Marco Cooper (two) and Arthur Zulu (two) also got in on the scoring for Sam Houston.
“Aaron is a good player and he can shoot the ball. He came out tonight and was hitting,” Brown said. “Lance hit some good shots and played some good (defense) and got some blocked shots. Drae came out and hit some 3s.”
Sam Houston State 90, Lamar 63
LAMAR (10-11)
Miles 4-13 1-2 10, Harper 1-3 1-1 3, Harris 6-12 2-2 15, Nabors 2-6 5-6 9, Custer 2-2 3-7 8, Mathis 0-2 0-0 0, Lopez 0-2 0-0 0, Wesley 1-3 2-5 4, Minor 1-3 4-4 6, Brown 0-2 2-4 2, Nwevo 3-7 0-3 6. Totals 20-55 20-34 63.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (13-5)
Mitchell 4-8 5-5 14, Allmond 8-14 4-4 24, Crow 2-3 3-4 7, Clavell 0-5 0-0 0, Bootle 4-5 0-0 8, Murray 2-4 0-0 5, Brown 3-7 4-6 12, Thompson 3-6 0-0 7, Pevehouse 3-4 1-3 9, Cooper 1-1 0-0 2, Zulu 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-58 17-22 90.
Halftime—Sam Houston St. 48-31. 3-Point Goals—Lamar 3-12 (Custer 1-1, Miles 1-3, Harris 1-4, Mathis 0-1, Nabors 0-1, Lopez 0-2), Sam Houston St. 11-20 (Allmond 4-6, Pevehouse 2-3, Brown 2-4, Murray 1-1, Thompson 1-2, Mitchell 1-2, Clavell 0-1, Crow 0-1). Fouled Out—Clavell. Rebounds—Lamar 31 (Nabors 6), Sam Houston St. 41 (Bootle 11). Assists—Lamar 17 (Harris 5), Sam Houston St. 28 (Murray 7). Total Fouls—Lamar 22, Sam Houston St. 27. Technical—Lamar Bench. A—1,689.
