UTSA Gets Past Sam Houston, 79-70 to Reach Title Game
By Brandon C. Williams
Southland.org
KATY, Texas - Playing zone defense isn't a style that UTSA coach Brooks Thompson likes to run often, but he rolled the dice when it came to containing Sam Houston State and Southland Conference Player of the Year Gilberto Clavell.
Thompson's gamble paid off as the defense frustrated Sam Houston State's star big man enough as the seventh-seeded Roadrunners moved into the Southland Conference tournament title game with a 79-70 over the defending champion Bearkats on Thursday.
With the win, the Roadrunners (18-13) await the winner of McNeese State and Texas State on Saturday for the right to advance to the NCAA tournament.
"I felt like we had to stay in zone," said Thompson, who leads UTSA into their second trip to the championship round in three years. "They were hot early, but I think the zone might have messed up their rhythm a bit."
The 2-3 zone was designed to contain the high-scoring Clavell, who was held to just 1 of 5 shooting in the first half. While Clavell exploded in the second half to finish with 25 points and seven rebounds, the alignment led the Bearkats outside shooters into a sense of confidence that they were unable to cash in upon.
With a string of open looks, the Bearkats (18-13) faltered from long range in the second half, hitting just 2 of 20 from beyond the arc.
Of their 69 field goal attempts on the night, Sam Houston State shot 36 from the 3-point line, hitting only eight (.222).
"They kept leaving us open, but we just didn't hit our shots," said Sam Houston State senior guard Lance Pevehouse, who finished with nine points.
UTSA continued to ride the emotional leadership of senior guard Devin Gibson, who followed up his triple-double in Wednesday's win over Northwestern State with a 26-point, 11-rebound, six-assist outing. Much of his production came from the free throw line, where Gibson went 11 for 15.
The Roadrunners connected on 24 of their 33 attempts from the charity stripe, as they scored their final 18 points at the line in the final 5:11 of the contest.
Thompson also received a huge contribution from the bench, as Jeromie Hill, Larry Wilkins and Stephen Franklin spent significant portions of the first half in foul trouble. The door sprang open for Alex Vouyoukas (eight points, four rebounds in 12 minutes) and Sei Paye (12 points, four rebounds in 32 minutes) to step into the breech at a critical time.
"We knew we had to step up," said Paye. "We did what we had to do until they came back into the game."
The game was keyed by a series of runs from both teams. UTSA took a 27-17 lead with 9:18 in the first half before the Bearkats came back with a 15-4 run to take the lead at the 3:34 mark.
A Pevehouse 3-pointer gave Sam Houston State a 52-49 lead with 12:53 remaining, but the Roadrunners took the lead for good when Melvin Johnson III knocked down a trey of his own with 11:52 left.
UTSA had a 10-point lead at the 2:07 mark, but Pevehouse's final triple of the night closed the margin to 72-66 with 1:48 remaining. It would be as close as the Bearkats could inch to as the Roadrunners hit 7 of their last 9 free throws to ice the victory.
"We didn't play well," said Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten, "but a lot of that (credit) goes to UTSA."
UTSA Quotes
Coach Brooks Thompson
Opening Statement: "I thought it was a very hard fought game on both sides. Sam Houston played great. They gave us tough matchup problems in man coverage in the low post with Clavell and Bootle. With their guys on the perimeter, Pevehouse, Murray and Josten Crow, they were 6-of-14 I believe at the half and proved they could make some three's against our zone. I think our guys are very deserving of this victory. They played very well and I think ever since the UT Arlington game that advanced us to the tournament we've been playing very good ball. But we are by no means satisfied yet."
Devin Gibson
On late season run carrying over into tournament: "I think it's a huge carry over. We used UTA as a motivational tool because we were down 10 at half to UTA and the guys got together at half of that game and decided that we're not going home. We really picked it up defensively and guys started playing their roles, we started trusting each other more for the rest of the season and I really feel like that has carried over into the tournament."
On playing in tournament championship: "It feels great to know that all the hard work that you put in spring and summer, puking during conditioning, that it will pay off, you just have to take it."
Sei Paye
On bench play: "We know it's tournament time so when some of our guys got in foul trouble it was time to step up. So we did whatever we had to."
Sam Houston State Quotes
Coach Jason Hooten
Opening Statement: "I know we felt a lot better sitting up here yesterday than we do here today. We didn't play as well as we could, but a lot of that is due to UTSA. They played really good and I have to give them credit. I think that game at UTA, when they came back like they did, sparked them a little bit. We had won 10 out of 12 coming into today and we're both playing really well. They did a good job though. Their zone was really good tonight. We had an Achilles heal this year, we didn't shoot the ball really well from the 3-point line all year long. As a head coach if you don't take care of that it can come back on you and it bit us tonight."
Gilberto Clavell
Playing against UTSA zone: "It was hard to get open. The middle was always plugged up so I couldn't move for the open shot. They did a great job."
Lance Pevehouse
Playing against UTSA zone, pressure to shoot more: "I felt like at times we were pressured to keep taking outside shots because we couldn't get the ball into Gilberto as much as we normally do. But we had good looks at the basket, but just we just didn't have it tonight."