No. 3 Sam Houston Has Little Trouble in Tournament Win over SFA
By Brandon C. Williams
Southland.org
KATY, Texas - The defending Southland Conference tournament champions used the same method that worked the last time they faced rival Stephen F. Austin at the Merrell Center: a quick start and a smothering defense.
Sam Houston State's formula worked to perfection on Wednesday afternoon as the third-seeded Bearkats never trailed in a 61-45 win over the injury-plagued Lumberjacks, advancing to Thursday evening's semifinal against seventh-seed UT-San Antonio at 6 p.m.
"If I have to be blunt about it, we just didn't have it offensively today," said SFA coach Danny Kaspar, whose team ends the 2010-11 campaign with an 18-11 record.
The Lumberjacks, which lost 64-48 to the Bearkats (18-12) in last year's conference championship game, were unable to get on track from the outset, quickly falling behind 12-2 at the 14:03 mark and failed to take advantage of a 7:32 stretch in the second half where they kept Sam Houston State off the scoreboard.
Wednesday looked much like a carbon copy of last week's 55-40 loss to the Bearkats, where the Lumberjacks - who lost their last three games - managed just 39 percent shooting.
Like the March 2 meeting, Sam Houston State established itself on the glass, outrebounding SFA by a 28-22 margin. While Southland Conference Player of the Year Gilberto Clavell had an efficient outing (20 points, three rebounds, three assists), junior Antuan Bootle's unsung effort (six points, 10 rebounds) helped set the tone.
"In college basketball, guys like Antuan sometimes don't get much credit," said Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten. "He's been real motivated and playing really hard of late. We probably wouldn't be sitting here without him."
Dominating the boards has been the clarion call during the Bearkats' current four-game winning streak; Sam Houston State owns a plus-41 rebounding edge.
"I've been preaching it all year long," said Hooten. "I think it's starting to sink in a bit."
Clavell scored six early points as the Bearkats bolted out to the early lead, while also getting offensive support from Josten Crow, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers that helped Sam Houston State take a 36-24 lead into intermission.
A Bootle field goal extended the margin to 44-30 at the 15:19 mark of the second half, but it would be the last points the Bearkats would muster until Clavell banked home a short hook with 7:47 to go. The Lumberjacks managed just six points in that span and never got closer than 11 points after Drae Murray's 3-pointer gave Sam Houston State a 49-36 cushion with 6:07 remaining.
The Bearkats also got a solid contribution off the bench from Nafis Richardson, who scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.
"We can't be satisfied," said Clavell. "We have to stay hungry if want to get back to the championship game."
SFA was unable to get forward Jereal Scott on track, as the first-team All-Southland Conference performer was limited to 1 of 6 shooting en route to a three-point, two-assist afternoon. Eddie Williams led the Lumberjacks with 11 points, but was held to just one point after intermission.
Wednesday's loss was a frustrating end for SFA, which had spent much of the conference schedule dealing with injuries to the likes of Scott and starting point guard Dernzel Barnes.
"Sam Houston State was the better team today," said Kaspar. "That's all I can say."
Sam Houston State Quotes
Coach Jason Hooten
Opening Statement: "First of all, our guys played really well and the credit goes totally to them. It's hard to get ready to play a team you just played seven days ago. It's kind of crazy, but it was a carbon copy of the same game. I haven't slept much over the last three nights, you wonder playing someone that close whether or not you can execute your game plan the same way in a quick turnaround. But the credit goes to the kids, because they did exactly that. It was the same kind of game and we executed exactly what we needed to do to win."
Effort of Antuan Bootle: "In college basketball, a guy like Antuan Bootle sometimes doesn't get much credit, but you can't overlook or underestimate the size of his contribution and his presence inside. He's a great rebounder and I told him at the end of the year he's got the ability to lead the league in rebounds. He's had some really good games down the stretch. He's been very motivated and played really hard. We probably wouldn't be where we are today without his efforts."
Gilberto Clavell
On being player of the year and performance today: "It's just an award and doesn't really mean anything. If I didn't have my coach and teammates I wouldn't have gotten it. But today, we were all focused, we practiced hard all week. We concentrated on rebounding and out playing people. We wanted to increase our defense knowing that our offense would come from that effort. It was a good game for us."
Josten Crow
On defense in second half during seven-minute scoring drought: "We played together. It was a good team effort. Defensively, we communicated. We had all our coverages down and stuck with what the coaches said and followed the game plan."
Stephen F. Austin Quotes
Coach Danny Kaspar
Opening Statement: "I really think we just got out played today. Particularly, the last two times we played Sam Houston, they jumped on us pretty good in the beginning and we were playing catch up both games. We couldn't buy a bucket early which was indicative of our games earlier in Nacogdoches. I thought Sam Houston executed very well. Clavell had a great offensive game. Overall, their team played very well and shot the ball well. We got out rebounded, which is something that didn't happen to us a lot this year. So that in and of itself is not a good sign for us. We were having a very good season and then these last three games we just fell off a little bit. I'm at a loss to explain as to what happened at our place in front of 5,000 fans, but today I think my guys played hard, but Sam Houston was the better team in the end."
Eddie Williams
On being down early, offensive struggles: "When the scoreboard is 9-0 you haven't scored in the first few minutes it was really frustrating, but we just weren't able to climb out of it."
Jordan Glynn
On rebounds and offensive struggles: "I didn't assert myself as much probably as much as I should have. I was crashing the board but some of the shots just didn't fall our way today. We really didn't get a lot of shots off the glass for put backs. They mainly made us stick to jump shots the whole game and we're use to scoring on the inside."