The Colonels defeated the Sam Houston Bearkats 60-59 on Feb. 11 with a last second lay-up by senior Justin Payne to end Sam Houston’s eight-game winning streak.The Colonels went into the locker room at the half with a score of 26-20 thanks to freshman Cameron McCallum and sophomore Kellan Carter whose combined eight points in the final three minutes put the Colonels up by six.
The two teams were neck and neck the whole game proving that, like the Colonels last game, it would come down to the last second.
With six seconds left on the clock and the Colonels down 59-58, the ball was passed to Payne who went from baseline to baseline and by a defender to put the Colonels on top with a score of 60-59 and .5 seconds left.
Sam Houston, the top ranked team in the SLC West division, was unable to come back. The Colonels won in an upset game.
“It was an unbelievable effort by all of our guys and particularly by Justin Payne to go the length of the floor and make a really tough shot under a lot of pressure,” head coach J.P. Piper said. “This was a hostile environment and it’s good to get this type of win.”
Senior Ryan Bathie led the Colonels with 19 points followed by sophomore Anatoly Bose who had 12 points and made a team high of nine rebounds.
“That was so much fun,” Piper said. “I’m so proud of our guys. We lost one just like this in our last outing. We just told our guys that when you play hard every night and you keep believing, when it comes down to the last second, you win some and you lose some and tonight it balanced out. We got one on the road.”
On Saturday, the Colonels faced the Southeastern Lions in a close match-up and came back from an 11-point deficit to defeat Southeastern with a score of 52-50.
The last time these two teams met this season was on Jan. 31, when Southeastern was defeated on their home court with a score of 68-65.
“We knew today was going to be a war,” Piper said. “I have a ton of respect for Southeastern. They didn’t like the way things ended at their place, so we knew they were going to come at us hard today.”
Sophomore Dominic Friend put the Colonels on the board at the 18:18 point of the game with a short jumper around a defender.
Southeastern seemed to have stripped the energy from the Colonels towards the end of the half when the Lions took the lead. The Colonels could not regain the lead in the half and went into the locker room with a score of 22-30.
“We were really worried about that little drought that we hit offensively and we felt like we were our own worst enemy through a lot of that,” Piper said. “We turned the ball over – traveling and taking bad shots – and we just needed to play through that and clean it up. I think the guys responded well to what we talked about at halftime and came out and took care of business in the second half.”
At the half, the Colonels shot 34.8 percent (8-23) with Bathie scoring 14 of the Colonels 22. The next high scorer was Payne with three. The Colonels were also 36.4 percent (4-11) from the three point range.
Southeastern had a great first half with 61.1 percent (11-18) in field goals, 62.5 percent (5-8) three-point shots and 75 percent (3-4) from the free throw line. Southeastern stayed above 50 percent the whole half.
Carter and Payne both found themselves in foul trouble early in the second half. Payne was benched with four fouls at the 13:59 mark.
The Colonels energy had a drastic change from how they ended the first half. Despite the challenges the Colonels had to face in the game, they kept playing with the heart of a champion.
With 3:57 left in the game, the Colonels tied the score at 47. The score stayed the same until the one minute mark when Bose made a three pointer from the corner.
Nervousness and anticipation rose around the gym on the outcome of the game.
Southeastern’s Warrell Span shot for a three and made it, tying the score once again. The Colonels brought the ball down and Southeastern’s Chris Cyprian fouled Bathie resulting in Cyprian fouling out of the game.
Bathie went to the line and made both shots for the Colonels putting them up 52-50 with 17 seconds left.
With the shot clock and game clock the same, Southeastern had to do something to stay in the game. A three-point shot went up by Southeastern with a second left; it was no good. The Colonels came back from an 11 point deficit to defeat Southeastern with a score of 52-50. This livened their hopes of making it to the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas.
Bathie led the team with a high score of 23 followed by Bose with 15. Even though Southeastern shot 51.4 percent, it was not enough to overcome the Colonels.
Bathie said these wins were big for the Colonels putting them in a great place for the conference tournament with a conference record of 8-3. However, the past few games have been tough for the Colonels with multiple players sick including Bathie and freshman Fred Hunter.
“I think it’s big that we had to play without Fred and Bathie at their best,” Piper said. “It’s forced other players to step up. It’s a sign of a good team when some of your leaders are down and out and other guys step in and pick up the slack for you. It can only be a positive down the stretch.”
The Colonels face Texas State on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Texas State with a tip-off time of 4 p.m.
