sam houston bearkats-college basketball odds

Sam Houston State and Texas-Arlington took it to the limit Tuesday night at Johnson Coliseum in the opening round of the Southland Conference.

The two teams went toe to toe and traded punch for punch, and in the end, it was an unlikely source that came up with the game-winning basket in double overtime.

After point guard Jejuan Plair took the inbound and drove down the left side of the court, he dished it off to a wide open John Gardiner on the baseline. The 6-foot-8 inch center calmly hit a 12-foot jumper with four seconds left in the second extra period to lift the Bearkats to a thrilling 86-84 wagering spread victory.

“That really wasn't how the play was drawn up,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “But (John) is a very good shooter in the short corner. We had him over there to try to get a tip-in and get Chris Jordan the shot. They defended it well, and Jejuan made the play.”

The win sets SHSU (21-8) up with another showdown against Stephen F. Austin in the tournament semifinal at Johnson Coliseum on Thursday. The Lumberjacks dealt the Kats a tough blow in the season finale Saturday, escaping with a 73-72 victory on a buzzer beating 3. SFA beat McNeese State 72-70 total points spread in Nacogdoches on Tuesday to advance.

The Mavericks built a 79-75 lead to start the first overtime, then the Bearkats answered with a 4-0 run thanks to a 3 by Plair and a free throw by Gardiner to send it to double overtime. UTA had a chance to win it with 30 seconds left, but Kelvin Williams and Gardiner each blocked attempted shots to close out the period.

Plair and Gardiner took over in the second overtime, combining for all seven of the Bearkats points to close it out. Williams came up with a huge steal with 18 seconds left to set up Gardiner's game winner.

“There wasn't much hesitation; I have been working on it every day in practice,” Gardiner said about the winning baseline shot. “Basically, Coach ran that finally play for me to be in position for a tip in. But the guy that was defending me stepped inside, and I made it. There was no hesitation. It was a do-or-die situation with the clock running down. I had full confidence because it is a shot I work everyday on.”

It was a hotly contested game in the post, with the Mavericks taking advantage of their size to get to the basket. Senior forward Steven Thomas had his way, scoring 21 points in the paint. Anthony Vereen also had a big night inside, going for 17.

But the ncaa Bearkats came up with the stops when it counted the most.

“They were really hard to handle down there because they are big guys with some size,” Williams said. “Thomas was working hard because this was possibly his last game, and Vereen and (Larry) Posey are tough to defend because they're wide. We had to just keep moving our feet to get position. When it came down to it, we made the plays in the end.”

The Bearkats fought from as many as eight down in the second half before battling back to take a 68-66 lead on a baseline dunk by Jordan. Kenneth Henderson would later put the Mavericks up 73-70 with a minute left in regulation, but SHSU got another clutch basket. Ryan Bright and Plair both missed 3-point shots, but Shamir McDaniel came up with a third offensive rebound on the possession and hit a 3 in the left corner with 38 seconds left to send it to overtime.

The Mavericks outrebounded SHSU 45-39 for the game, but UTA head coach Eddie McCarter said his team's inability to grab a rebound on that possession was a pivotal moment in the game.

“It was a hard pill to swallow, kind of like one of those big ones you can't get down with out a lot of water,” McCarter said. “It's hard to be upset because you look out there and see that we had a lot of chances to win it. We had the lead with under a minute, and they had three looks and finally hit a 3 to tie it.

“In that situation you would think that your team would come up with the rebound on the first miss and kick it out to put their backs against the wall.”

Jordan led the Bearkats with 21 points despite getting into early foul trouble. Gardiner turned in a double-double with a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds. Plair added 10, while Bright and McDaniel finished with nine points each.

Sam Houston State was able to hold off a late charge by Texas-San Antonio in the final minute Saturday to escape with a thrilling 90-87 wagering spread victory at Johnson Coliseum.

The win, along with a McNeese State loss to Northwestern State, moved the Bearkats (19-7 overall) into sole possession of second place in the Southland Conference at 10-4 with two games left. Two more wins will lock up the No. 2 seed in the SLC tournament, and more importantly, give SHSU an opportunity to play two home games.

Jejuan Plair led SHSU with 20 points, and Chris Jordan, who missed a majority of the second half with an ankle injury, finished with 19.

“It was a real big when, especially since McNeese lost to Northwestern to put us all alone in second,” said Plair, who averaged 21.5 points in two wins over the Roadrunners this season. “If we can hold on, (finishing second) will give us an extra home game in the (SLC) tournament. Every game from here on out is important, and right now, we control our own destiny on whether or not we have our home crowd behind us.”

The Bearkats roared back from a sluggish start in the first half to take a 48-41 lead into the break, thanks to a two-minute stretch when Jordan outscored UTSA 11-4. The first half belonged to Jordan and Plair, who scored 17 and 14 points each.

SHSU increased the lead to 11 to start the second when Ryan Griffin hit a 3-pointer to make it 60-49 at the 13:09 mark. But a minute later, Jordan left the game after he rolled his ankle on a hard foul, and the Bearkat offense hit a wall.

UTSA went on a 14-6 run to get to within three at 66-63 with 7:23 to go, and the race to the finish was on.

John Gardiner finally gave the Kats some breathing room with an old-fashioned three-point play on a shot underneath the basket and a foul to push the SHSU lead to six at 87-81. The Roadrunners cut it to one with a couple of quick baskets, but Jeremy Thomas sank a pair of free throws in the final second and stole an inbounds pass to seal it.

“Every time we play UTSA, it's a barn burner and tonight was no exception,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “They got out of the gate well, and we were able to slow them down and take lead when Chris got hot and hit a couple of 3s. In the second half we got it up to 11, and we had a few turnovers and they got some quick baskets to get back in it.

“Fortunately we made just enough plays and made some free throws to hold on. I thought the play of the game was when Shamir (McDaniel) got through their press, kicked it over to Jejuan and John finished it for the three-point play.”

The Bearkats odds limited the Roadrunners on defense by getting them into early foul trouble. SHSU got to the free throw line 52 times in the game, and the Kats were able to knock down 33 of those shots, or 63 percent.

UTSA had three key players foul out. Point guard Kurt Attaway (seven points, eight assists), Chris Thompson (10 points) and Gabe Bernard (3-of-5 from behind the arc) were all sent to the bench early.

Two other Roadrunners, Andre Owens and Abe Donlon, who finished with 26 and 19 points, finished with four fouls.

“We dug ourselves into big of a hole when we had some of our key players get into foul trouble and had to play a lot of our reserves,” UTSA head coach Tim Carter said. “Sam made that run on us and it was too deep for us to come back. We missed four free throws in the second half, four key free throws.

“But obviously we were fouling too much. We sent them to the line 52 times, they made 33. When you send a team to the line that much, it will come back to hurt you.”

Texas-San Antonio's (11-15, 6-9) tournament chances took a big hit Saturday. The ncaa Roadrunners remained tied with Louisiana-Monroe for the eighth and final spot with one game to go — against first-place Northwestern State at home.

The Bearkats did a better job on the offensive glass Saturday, grabbing 14 boards, which was double their total from the previous two games. Ryan Bright led SHSU with 11 rebounds, four offensive and seven defensive.

McDaniel added 12 points, and Gardiner and Aaron Wade had eight and seven points each.

The Kats will be back in action on the road Wednesday when they face Texas-Arlington college basketball team at 7 p.m., before closing out the conference play with rival Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at Johnson Coliseum.

“We have to go on the road and play a team in UTA that is fighting to position themselves in the conference tournament, and then return home and play our archrival SFA at home,” Marlin said. “I expect these next two games to be similar to tonight's.”

Sam Houston State will be out to maintain their hold on second place in the Southland Conference Wednesday when the Bearkats travel to Arlington to face the UTA Mavericks on the stage at Texas Hall at 7 p.m.

Alone in second place after a victory over UTSA Saturday, the Kats are looking to nail down the number two seed in the Southland post-season tournament. The second seed is quaranteed home playoff games in both the first round and the semifinals should they win the first round.

After starting the 2006 Southland race with losses to Nicholls and McNeese State, SHSU has won 10 of its last 12 games to rank second in the conference race.

Northwestern State basketball team has clinched the SLC regular season title with a 13-1 mark. The only blemish on the Demons’ 11-1 record came at the hands of the Kats in Huntsville.

Chris Jordan, the only senior on the 2006 squad, became the 19th men’s basketball player at Sam Houston State to score more than 1,000 career points with a career high 30 points to Lamar. Jordan has appeared in 111 games scoring 1,067 points. He ranks 8th in SHSU scoring among Kats who played at the NCAA Division I level.
The Hitchcock, TX, product earned All-Southland Conference third team honors as a junior. As a redshirt freshman in 2003, he started 10 games for the Bearkats’ Southland Conference championship team that earned an NCAA playoff berth vs. Florida.

With a 9-3 record, Sam Houston State produced the university’s best regular season non-conference mark. The nine victories rank as the most regular season non-league wins for a Southland Conference squad since Northeast Louisiana went 10-6 in 1991. The .750 winning percentage of the odds is the best since North Texas was 8-2 in 1994
The Bearkats defeated Missouri (Big 12 Conference) 80-77 in the Preseason NIT, New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference) 78-77 in overtime, and CUSA members, Southern Mississippi and Central Florida.
Jordan has earned SLC “Player of the Week” honors twice this season

Junior college transfers Jejuan Plair and John Gardiner are playing important roles for the Kats. Plair, 6-1 point guard from McLennan CC, leads the Southland in assists (5.6), ranks 7th in steals (1.8) and is averaging 11.2 points per game. Gardiner, 6-7 post player from Grayson County, is averaging 7.2 points and 5.0 boards. Gardiner pulled down 14 rebounds in his first NCAA Division I game at Missouri in the Preseason NIT.

Ryan Bright, sophomore from Deer Park, earned Southland Conference “Freshman of the Year” honors in 2005. This season, he ranks 3rd in SLC’s rebounds with 8.0 boards per game and sixth in steals (1.9). Bright was the SLC “Player of the Week” the first week of the season after scoring 28 points at Missouri and 21 points at Drexel in the Preseason NIT. He also was named All-Tournament at the Fiesta Bowl Classic.

Aaron Wade, 6-7 junior from Plano, has started the last eight games for Sam Houston and is averaging 10.8 points per contest as a starter. He scored 14 points in both the Texas-Arlington and Northwestern State games and 17 points in the Lamar victory.

A key in Sam Houston State’s 6-3 Southland Conference record has been the play of the Bearkats’s reserves. SHSU is averaging 20.2 bench points per game in Southland Conference play. The Kat bench has scored 20 or more points in 10 of the 14 SLC games. Forwards 6-7 junior Ryan Griffin, 6-4 junior Kelvin Williams, and 6-6 freshman Reggie Rawlins and guard 5-11 sophomore Jeremy Thomas are playing important roles as reserves. C. J. Hadley, out for the first half of the season after fall knee surgery, has returned to add another top defensive player off the bench.

Jordan scored 24 points to lead Sam Houston State to a 91-81 gambling spread victory over Texas-Arlington at Johnson Coliseum when the two met in Huntsville earlier this year.

After two lead changes in the first two minutes, SHSU never trailed, building a 43-31 halftime lead and a 19-point 57-38 lead with 14:29 to play. But UTA cut the margin to five points, 78-73, with 1:46 to play. The Bearkats had to hit 13 of 14 free throws in the final minute and a half to secure the victory. Jordan was 10 of 11 at the line.

Nine Bearkats penciled their name in the scoring column Saturday, as SHSU (14-5 overall, 5-2 in Southland Conference play) rolled to a 91-81 victory over Texas-Arlington (11-9, 4-3) at Johnson Coliseum.

It marked the fifth straight win for the Kats, who are currently tied with Lamar for second place in the SLC. Chris Jordan led the way with a game-high 24-points, including a 10-for-11 night at the free-throw line. Teammates Jejuan Plair and Aaron Wade contributed 18 and 14 points each.

The Bearkat bench outscored the Mavericks 26-16.

The 6-4 senior guard from Hitchcock scored a career high 30 points in SHSU's 85-82 spread victory over Lamar in Beaumont on Thursday.

During the performance, he became the 19th player in Bearkat men's basketball history to score more than 1,000 points.

Jordan led the Kats in scoring with 13 points in a 76-64 road loss at McNeese.

For the week, the senior guard averaged 21.5 points on 16-of-27 (59.3 percent) from the field, including 6-of-10 (60.0) from 3-point range. The award is the second of the season for Jordan and the second in the last four weeks.

In 104 games as a Bearkat basketball player, Jordan has scored 1,034 points. He has scored in double figures 52 times during his career and in 16 of Sam Houston State's 24 games this season.

"Chris Jordan is everything you want in a senior leader. He really makes a difference to this team," SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. "I couldn't have been prouder for Chris the performance he had in the Lamar game."

Three weeks ago, Jordan has been voted the Southland Conference Aeropostale ncaa basketball player of the week for the first time this season after averaging 22.5 points in victories over Southeastern Louisiana and Texas-Arlington.

Jordan scored 21 points in a 68-64 victory at Hammond on Thursday over the Lions. He then had 24 points in a 91-81 win over the Mavericks in Huntsville.

For the week, Jordan hit 14 of 20 (70.0 percent) from the field, including 4-of-6 (66.7) three-point field goals and 13-of-18(72.2) from the free throw line, including a 10-of-11 performance in the UTA game. He also had 10 rebounds and eight assists in the two contests.

Three times this season a Sam Houston State Bearkat has earned the SLC Aeropostale Player of the Week honor. Ryan Bright was the league's first Player of the Week this season in November.

Reggie Rawlins forced overtime for the Bearkats with a free throw with 19 seconds left in regulation to tie the score 56-56. Rawlins missed his bonus free throw. After a Lion turnover with three seconds left, Chris Jordan missed a three point try at the buzzer for SHSU.

The game was tied six times and there were seven lead changes.

Southeastern had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 11-11 overall and 5-6 in league action.

“It came down to basically one possession, and we made the play down the stretch to come away with the win,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “The game over there (a 68-64 SHSU win Jan. 25) came down to the end. The games in the past have been that way. (A close game) is what you expect.”

After Aaron Wade gave the Kats the lead at 61-59, Southeastern's Chris Lee popped a pair of free throws to tie it up with 1:19 left in overtime. Ricky Woods, who scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, had a chance to give the Lions the lead with a pair of free throws after a missed jumper by Ryan Bright on the ensuing possession, but Woods' shots both clanked off the iron.

The Kats came back down the court, and with a few seconds left on the shot clock, McDaniel beat his man to the basket and got the shot to fall despite being fouled. He sank the charity shot and put SHSU up for good at 64-61.

“The pressure was broke down from the start and I got the ball and everything was kind of jumbled all together,” McDaniel said about the game-winner. “I remember hearing from behind me, “Take him, take him,” so I took him to the basket and made the shot.”

The Bearkat defense did a good job not allowing any decent looks at the basket for the Lions in the extra period. Southeastern was 1-for-5 from the field, and Woods was held scoreless.

SHSU also shut the Lions out from behind the arc, holding them to an 0-for-9 on the night.

In overtime, the Kats hit only 2-of-5 shots from the field, but they were 6-for-7 from the line, including two from Jejuan Plair to seal the win with five seconds left.

“In a game like this against Sam Houston, you have to play great basketball,” Lions college basketball head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “I felt like there was a few areas where we didn't do that. We had too many turnovers and missed a lot of shots, especially on overtime. I felt we played great defense, but so did they.”

The Bearkats, who led 27-24 at halftime, looked as if they might open up a bit of a cushion midway through the second. McDaniel hit a 3-pointer in the left corner to make it 38-32, and SLU's Jonathan Walker was called for a foul away from the ball to give SHSU the basket and the ball back.

Bright followed that up with another 3 to give the Kats their biggest lead of the night at 41-32 line spread.

But, as was the story of the game, the Lions kept clawing and eventually battled back to take the lead at 51-50 on a bank shot by Woods with four minutes to go.

SHSU regained the advantage at 55-53 on a bucket by Reggie Rawlins until three unanswered point by Southeastern shifted the game in the Lions' favor. Rawlins then got to the foul line with 19 seconds left and made the 1-of-2 free throws to knot it back up.

The ncaa Kats had a chance to win it in regulation after a turnover by the Lions, but Chris Jordan couldn't get the final shot to fall.

“This was a game that neither team could really pull away,” Marlin said. “We trailed 7-0 in the first few minutes for the game, but battled back. We had the lead in the second half and they came back. But I thought our guys stepped up down the stretch, and fortunately we were able to pull it out.”

It was another team effort for Sam Houston with all 10 players who saw action contributing in the scoring. Bright led the Kats with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Plair had 10 to go along with seven assists. McDaniel finished the night with nine points, and Wade and Rawlins had eight and seven, respectively.

Notes: Chris Jordan inched a little closer to reaching the 1,000-point mark for his college career. He needed 15 coming into Thursday's game, but finished with six. He will get his next crack at it Wednesday when the Bearkats travel to Lamar.

A senior from Hitchcock, TX, Jordan scored 45 points in victories over Southeastern Louisiana and Texas-Arlington.

The victories extend SHSU's current winning streak to five and move the Bearkats into a tie with Lamar for second place in the league.

Jordan opened the week by scoring 21 points in a 68-64 victory at Hammond on Thursday over the Lions. He then had 24 points in a 91-81 win over the Mavericks in Huntsville.

For the week, Jordan hit 14 of 20 (70.0 percent) from the field, including 4-of-6 (66.7) three-point field goals and 13-of-18(72.2) from the free throw line, including a 10-of-11 performance in the UTA game. He also had 10 rebounds and eight assists in the two contests.

In his fourth season as a Bearkat, Jordan moved up to 25th in Sam Houston State career scoring. His 948 career points in 100 games ties him with Boney Watson, All-Southland Conference point guard on the Bearkats's 2000 league championship team.

Jordan is 52 points away from becoming the 19th player in Sam Houston State men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points.

Jordan's honor marks the second time this season a Sam Houston State Bearkat has earned the SLC Aeropostale Player of the Week honor. Ryan Bright was the league's first Player of the Week this season in November.