Bearkats surrender 1st place in Southland
It was no fabrication that the matchup between Sam Houston State and Abilene Christian was a game of significance involving the top two basketball teams in the Southland Conference.
Wednesday’s game in Abilene was a showdown in the truest sense. Sam Houston entered the Teague Center at 11-1, a half-game and two points ahead of Abilene Christian for the league’s top spot.
In a battle with first place on the line, Abilene Christian led the entire second half and pulled away from Sam Houston 86-72 despite 33 points from the Bearkats’ Zach Nutall.
With 2:04 remaining, Sam Houston got to within three points (75-72) following a basket by Demarkus Lampley. But the Wildcats scored the final 11 points to end the Bearkats’ fourgame winning streak.
“It boiled down to not playing defense the way we needed to and not executing the game plan,” Bearkats coach Jason Hooten said. “When you got two good teams that are pretty equal, it’s going to come down to who’s going to execute the best.”
Tristian Ikpe added 11 points for Sam Houston (17-7, 11-2). ACU’s Joe Pleasant, Coryon Mason, Mahki Morris and Airion Simmons combined for 63 points, with Pleasant putting up 24.
With its eighth straight victory, Abilene Christian (19-3, 11-1), which will play one less game than Sam Houston, has a league-leading 34 points. Sam Houston shares second with Nicholls at 33 points. But ACU still has a road game at Stephen F. Austin, which also has only one league loss.
Because all teams will not complete their SLC schedules, the league has gone to a point accumulation system to determine order in the standings. Three points are awarded for each win and one point for a tie (game not played).
The top four finishers receive a first-round bye into the quarterfinals of the SLC tournament March 10-14 at the Merrell Center in Katy.
Sam Houston, which had won 14 of its previous 15 games, has three games remaining and plays next at Houston Baptist on Monday.
“We just need to win our three,” Hooten said. “We have a chance to finish 14-2 and 20-7 and have either a one or two seed going to Katy.”
Sam Houston handed ACU its only loss in conference. On Jan. 20, the Bearkats upended the Wildcats 64-57 in Huntsville behind 30 points from Demarkus Lampley, who scored 10 on Wednesday. In that game, the Wildcats shot poorly from the field. On Wednesday, the Wildcats shot 50.9 percent (29 of 57), including 52.6 percent (10 of 19) on 3-pointers.
“We didn’t contest 3s,” Hooten said. “We let them shoot 3s in our face.”
ACU, playing for the first time in 11 days, surpassed 75 or more points for an eighth straight game. Sam Houston fell short against an opponent that is fifth-best nationally in scoring defense (59.1) and fourth in steals.