Nutall, Smith lead Sam Houston St. past Texas Lutheran 84-54

Dec 31, 2018, 10:28 pm

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Zach Nutall scored 12 points and RJ Smith added 11 with seven rebounds to help Sam Houston State beat D-III Texas Lutheran 84-54 on Monday.

Chad Bowie had 10 points, Kai Mitchell finished with nine and 11 rebounds for SHSU. Freshman Xavier Bryant, who came in with 11 career assists, had 12 against TLU.

The Bulldogs made 10 of their first 15 field-goal attempts to open an 11-point lead when Jacob Kouremetis hit his seventh 3-pointer with 9:07 left in the first half. Sam Houston State (5-8) scored the next 14 points, as TLU missed 11 consecutive shots, to take a three-point lead early in the second half. Harris Jowell's jumper with 18:40 to play snapped a scoring drought of nearly 9 1/2 minutes and pulled the Bulldogs within 32-31 but SHSU answered with a 10-3 spurt and later added a 15-0 run that made it 61-38 with 11 minutes to go.

Kouremetis led Texas Lutheran with 24 points, all of which came in the first 11 minutes.