Kats pull away from UTRGV

HUNTSVILLE — UTRGV pushed Sam Houston to the limits for 33 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but the problem was the game was 40 minutes long.

The Bearkats stepped on the gas in crunch time to speed away with an 83-64 victory at Johnson Coliseum to improve to 5-3 in WAC play and 15-4 overall. Qua Grant led the way with 20 points, Cameron Huefner had another big night with 17 points, Lamar Wilkerson added 15 and Donte Powers scored 10.

The Bearkats grabbed the lead in the first half but could not pull away. The Vaqueros shot the ball well from behind the arc and at the free throw line to be with 61-70 with seven minutes to go in the game.

Huefner made a 3-pointer to push the lead to four and Grant followed with a long range shot of his own.

The Kats then went on an 18-2 run to seal head coach Jason Hooten‘s 250th career win with Grant, Huefner, Javion May scoring before Wilkerson buried UTRGV with a 3 to make it 80-62 with a minute to go.

The Vaqueros took an early four-point lead, but the Bearkats were able to overcome it when Powers drained a 3 to make it 9-7. It was back and forth from there until Sam Houston got back-to-back baskets by Wilkerson and Grant to go up 17-12 midway through the first half.

The Kats used an 8-0 run to get some breathing room and take a 32-22 lead thanks to baskets by Powers, Kian Scroggins, Giovanni Emerjuru and Javion May with 3:33 left in the period. However, UTRGV outscored Sam Houston 11-4 to trim the advantage to 36-33 at the break.

The Bearkats will host first-place Seattle on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at gobearkats.com or by calling the Ticket Office at (936) 294-1729.

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