Led by the backcourt duo of Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell, who combined for 33 points, Sam Houston State outscored Oral Roberts 29-18 in the final 11 minutes Tuesday to lead the Bearkats to a 71-65 victory in the Cancun Challenge at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico.
The victory lifts Sam Houston to 3-2 for the season and comes over an Oral Roberts squad that defeated Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., last Wednesday.
“Oral Roberts is a nice program that has been to the NCAA tournament quite a few times in recent years,” Bearkats head coach Bob Marlin said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “They are always a front-runner in the Summit League championship.
“It was a good day for us. We played better, but we still need to work on our inside game. Our senior guards really stepped it up for us today.”
Oral Roberts held a five-point lead at 47-42 with 11:14 to play. A layup by junior Trevon Charles started a 17-4 run for the Kats as Sam Houston went ahead 59-51 on a jumper by sophomore Antuan Bootle.
The Golden Eagles cut the margin to 66-65 after a basket by Kevin Ford in the paint. The Bearkats secured the victory as senior Preston Brown picked up a three-point play on a layup and free throw with 25 seconds left. After a missed 3-point shot, junior Lance Pevehouse completed the contest with two free throws with seven seconds left.
“Ashton’s pressure sparked us in the first and second halves,” Marlin said. “He led us with three steals. He also came up with a huge assist when he got the ball to Preston, who made a layup and was fouled. He hit the free throw and that sealed it for us.”
Allmond scored 17 points and Mitchell tallied 16 to lead Sam Houston. Oral Roberts, now 2-3 for the year, was led by Michael Craion with 14 points.
A key to the game was Sam Houston forcing ORU into 17 turnovers while committing only 10 miscues. The Bearkats scored 21 points off of Golden Eagle turnovers.
Sam Houston shot 28-of-56 from the floor (50 percent), but were only 1-of-12 from 3-point range. The Kats also capitalized on 14-of-18 free throws.
“We were able to get the ball in the basket. We shot 27-of-44 from 2 even though we didn’t shoot the 3 well,” Marlin added. “They did a great job of trying to take Corey out of the game early. He did a good job of not forcing it and got to the basket. He only made one 3, but it was a big one.”
Junior Josten Crow, junior Gilberto Clavell, Charles and Brown each scored six points for Sam Houston. ORU had three other players in double figures with Ford and Warren Niles each scoring 12 points and Dominique Morrison totaling 11.
Sam Houston State now will face Rider in the 3:30 p.m. contest today at the Moon Palace Resort. Rider defeated Florida State 88-73 on Tuesday.
Following the Cancan Challenge, the Bearkats return home Nov. 30 for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Johnson Coliseum.
