Henderson, Dewey lift Sam Houston in Southland opener (Mar 08, 2017)
KATY, Texas (AP) Dakarai Henderson scored 16 points and John Dewey III had 15, with six in the last two minutes, and fifth-seeded Sam Houston State held off eighth-seeded Central Arkansas 77-69 in a Southland Conference Tournament opener on Wednesday night.
The Bearkats led 49-35 at the half but the Bears rallied, closing to 66-64 on a Mathieu Kamba layup with 3:07 to play. Chris Galbreath Jr. made a free throw for Sam Houston and after a turnover, Dewey drove down the right side of the lane and banked in a floater to make it 69-64 with 1:56 to go. After another turnover, Dewey had a similar shot to make it 71-64 and he added two free throws in the final minute.
Sam Houston plays fourth-seeded Houston Baptist in the second round on Thursday.
Henderson had all of his points in the first half when Sam Houston (20-12) had season highs for 3-pointers (eight) and points. However, the Bearcats only made one 3 in the second half but finished 20 of 25 from the foul line.
Kamba had 21 points, Jordan Howard 18 and Derreck Brooks 14 with 10 boards for the Bears (8-24), who ended the season with six-straight losses.
