Ben Sorrells, @SportsofSHSU
A record-breaking home opening night for the Sam Houston Bearkat men’s basketball team is deemed a success as they beat the Southwestern Adventist Knights 120-33.
The game was by most accounts not even close as the Bearkats ran away with this one by 87 points.
It is the largest margin of victory against any school in program history. The previous record was against the Dallas Christian Crusaders on Dec. 4, 2020, where the Bearkats won 117-42. It was a deficit of 75 points.
Every single Bearkat player on the roster scored, which is something you don’t see everyday. Sophomore transfer guard Jacoby Bishop was the last player that had not scored for the Bearkats until he hit a layup with 1:10 left in the game.
Five Bearkats had double digits in scoring.
Redshirt freshman Giovanni Emejuru led the Bearkats in scoring in his first game back since his lone appearance against the Schreiner Mountaineers where he scored no points.
This is good for Emejuru as he dealt with an injury that kept him out last season after Schreiner. While he will be coming off the bench at the time being, this game gave him the reps he needed.
Emejuru finished 16 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore transfer guard Lamar Wilkerson showed up again for the Bearkats as he had 15 points.
Junior Transfer forward Kaosi Ezeagu had 13 points. Junior transfer guard Ron Mitchell Jr. and sophomore guard Damon Nicholas Jr each had 11 points’
Senior guard Jaden Ray and senior transfer guard Qua Grant both had near double-doubles. Ray had eight points and seven assists. Grant had six assists.
There was another record broken that night. The home opener crowd attendance was broken with an official count of 1,892.
The student body and alumni might have been curious about the team after the upset against the Oklahoma Sooners. Perhaps it was something that head coach Jason Hooten said.
The Bearkat fandom did show up. They were into it as it turned into something like an all-star game. It even had a hint of dunk contest to it as the second half turned into that.
The students, alumni and other attendees had fun. That is going to go a long way this season.
Upsetting Oklahoma was already a big deal. But if the men’s basketball team of Sam Houston can keep a crowd like this when it comes to conference play, it’ll be a great advantage.
Bearkats move to 2-0 and will take the weekend off before heading back to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on Monday to face the LeTourneau Yellow Jackets.
The game will be TV broadcasted on ESPN+. 90.5 KSHU will have the game on the radio.
Tip-off is 6:30 p.m.
