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Sam Houston sophomore Aaron Harwell, right, keeps his feet moving and his eyes on a UTSA guard during a Southland Conference game earlier this season. Tonight at 7, the Bearkats host the Mavericks of UT Arlington, a team that has won 13 games in a row, including the first nine conference contests. D.J. Shafer

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February 7, 2012

Fresh off biggest win of season, SHSU men come home to clash with first-place Mavs

By Brandon K. Scott Staff Reporter The Huntsville Item Tue Feb 07, 2012, 11:59 PM CST

HUNTSVILLE — The hottest team in the Southland Conference visits Johnson Coliseum tonight, riding a 13-game winning streak and sporting a perfect 9-0 league record.

Sam Houston State has a difficult task on its hands facing Texas-Arlington, a team which had its way with the Bearkats on Jan. 11 at Texas Hall. The Mavericks rolled to a 66-40 that night in what was Sam Houston’s worst loss in conference action all season.

But the Mavericks have not completely dominated an opponent since.

At the end that game, UTA was 3-0 in conference play, burying opponents by an average of 31.6 points a game. Since defeating Sam Houston, the Mavericks are beating their opponents by only 5.5 points a game.

The close games, as much as the blowouts, have shown how good the Mavs are and how they can win in various ways.

“From what I’ve seen, they are obviously the best team in the league,” Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said of the Mavericks after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s a conference and it’s really hard to continue to play as great as they’ve played. You’re going to have peaks and valleys.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re still playing great, but to blow everybody out in the league just isn’t going to happen. They’ve had close games, but they’ve won their close games. They’ve been battle-tested and definitely proven they are the best in our conference right now.”

The Mavericks’ win streak is the third longest in the nation behind Murray State (23) and Kentucky (15).

UTA hasn’t dropped a game since the week before Christmas (Dec. 20), but Texas-San Antonio came close a week ago, falling by one to the Mavs. Houston Baptist and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi played them tough as well.

Sam Houston must play a much different game than on Jan. 11 to have a shot against UTA tonight. The Bearkats were held to only 20 points in each half, shooting only 6-of-13 from the free-throw line, and going through a seven-minute stretch without grabbing a single rebound.

Since losing to UTA, the Bearkats have improved a lot from experience, despite being on the wrong end of some tight games.

“We have to find the right way to win,” Sam Houston point guard Darius Gatson said. “I know we all want to win but we have to find the right way to win. I think we’re close. We’ve had a lot of close games.”

The Mavs’ success in their tight games could be a product of continuity and experience, something Sam Houston is still developing at this point in the season.

“They got their whole team back from last year,” Hooten said. “Every one of those guys played 30-something college basketball games last year and that’s a huge advantage. The second thing is they’re really deep. They can play 10 guys and all 10 are really good players. They shoot almost 40 percent as a team from the 3-point line and a great 7-foot inside player.

“They have everything you could want in a team.”

Leading the way for the Mavs is senior guard LaMarcus Reed III, who is averaging a conference-best 20.1 points in league contests. He has scored in double figures in all but two games this season and has poured in at least 20 points seven times this season. Bo Ingram (11.6) and Kevin Butler (11.0) are also scoring in double figures.

Jordan Reves is the Mavs’ leading rebounder, pulling down 6.9 rebounds per game. UTA is averaging 76.8 points per game, which ranks second in the league.

“I hope this time next year we’re kind of that same type of team as far as all of our guys being back. We’re going to lose Antuan (Bootle) and MJ (Marcus James), but we’ll have everybody else back. So our nucleus will be like theirs was last year.

“But you know UTA is deep. They just bring in guys in waves, kind of like UTSA. I don’t know if there is a correlation between this, but they are the best two teams in our conference and they’re the deepest two teams in our conference.”

Today’s game tips off at 7 p.m., following a special presentation of the historic Sam Houston football team that went undefeated this season until falling short in the Football Championship Subdivision game.

The Mavericks-Bearkats matchup is the Toyota Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network and will air nationally on a delayed basis via Fox College Sports Central on Thursday at 3 p.m.

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Streak stoppers?

Fresh off biggest win of season, SHSU men come home to clash with first-place Mavs

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