Published: March 26, 2006 01:38 am            

A special season for a special group of guys

Every once in a while, a team comes along and captures the hearts of its fans while taking them on an exhilarating journey filled with triumphs and heartaches and memories that last a lifetime.

That was the case with the Sam Houston State men’s basketball squad this year. The Bearkats went an impressive 22-9 overall and finished as the runner-up in both the Southland Conference regular season and tournament title hunt.

Not bad for a group of guys supposedly in a rebuilding year. After all, Sam Houston State lost Southland Conference Player of the Year Joe Thompson and a pair of All-SLC selections in center Eddy Fobbs and forward Wilder Auguste to graduation.

Their departure left one senior to lead this year’s bunch — Chris Jordan. He had the burden of carrying a squad loaded with junior college transfers, juniors, sophomores and a freshman. And somehow, everything fell into place.

“We talked about this being a rebuilding year, but every year we give it our best shot,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said late last week. “We coach as hard as we can and our players play as hard as they can, and sometimes it comes together. That’s the beauty of coaching — to take a group of guys from different backgrounds and teach them how to play together.”

What made this overachieving SHSU group so special was its unwillingness to quit and all-out effort. Starting with the first game of the season, the Bearkats set the tone that would carry them to within minutes of a trip to the NCAA Tournament.



The right mix of players

While it may be argued that this was Marlin’s best coaching job in seven years at Sam Houston, it was definitely one of the top recruiting classes. Marlin has brought some talented players to Huntsville, but none had the success this year’s squad had so soon.

Marlin’s team that won the Southland Conference regular-season championship in 1999-2000 (his second year at SHSU) was heavy with seniors, and the 2002-03 NCAA tournament group with JUCO transfers Donald Cole, Robert Shannon, Felton Freeman and Jay Oliphant went 14-14 in their first year.

Jejuan Plair and John Gardiner (junior college guys) made an instant impact for the Kats this season, and true freshman Reggie Rawlins began to come of age as the season went on. Those three guys came right in and had no problems complimenting Jordan, Ryan Bright, Shamir McDaniel, Aaron Wade, Ryan Griffin, Jeremy Thomas and Kelvin Williams.

They weren’t the biggest or strongest, but they were a team.

“This group came together as a team, and was one of the tougher groups that I have coached,” Marlin said. “That was the difference. We just had a great camaraderie. Everybody worked hard in practice and pulled for each other. The guys were just a close-knit group, and that’s something you can’t teach. Physically, we had some limitations, but with teamwork involved, we overcame that.”

It was always someone different who stepped up for the Kats. Jordan, Bright, Plair, McDaniel, Wade and Thomas all led the Kats in scoring in at least one game at some point in the season. Williams had a huge defensive game to save a victory in the SLC tournament opener, and Gardiner was virtually unstoppable down the stretch.



The beginning

Leading Missouri on its home court at the half in the opening round of the Preseason NIT, the Bearkats seemed primed to steal the first upset of the season against a power conference team to start the year. But, as is the case sometimes, the Tigers battled back to go up five with eight minutes left in the game.

SHSU didn’t break and eventually retook the lead and held off a brigade of Tiger assaults in the final few minutes to capture an 80-77 victory.

“I knew this team had something after the first game of the season,” Marlin said. “To give up the lead late at Missouri and come back to retake it with two minutes left, showed a lot of heart. To do that on the road with the orange uniforms in a televised game says something.”

The Bearkats would go on to win at New Mexico State in overtime with a pair of free throws by Jordan in the last second and beat Central Florida at the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson, Ariz., en route to a 9-3 preseason record, the best in the Southland Conference in 15 years.



Never give up

Once Southland Conference action rolled around, the Bearkats stumbled to a 0-2 start, with a loss on the road at Nicholls State and a setback at Johnson Coliseum to McNeese State. But Sam Houston had a chance to win both of those games, the ball just bounced the other way in the end.

With Northwestern State (the SLC favorite) next in line, a possible 0-3 start was staring the Kats in the face. Things had to get turned around quickly, and they did.

Sam Houston stormed out of the gate and dominated the Demons, handing them what would be their only conference loss, an 80-73 thumping in which Northwestern State never led after the first three minutes of the game.

The Bearkats would go on to win 11 of their last 13 games, including two after trailing at the half — one in overtime and several that came down to the final buzzer.

The resurrection after an 0-2 start was mainly because of Jordan’s solid play. At the beginning of the season, the coaches told him he would have to carry the team. He was slowed in nonconference action because of a knee injury, but once he got healthy, he was one of the best players in the SLC.

Jordan averaged more than 17 points a game in conference action and was a first-team All-SLC selection when the season concluded. The biggest aspect he brought to the team was the ability to be the glue that held it all together.

“We lost some great players last year, but we felt that Chris Jordan was the team’s MVP,” Marlin said. “We knew how valuable Chris was to use because he is so versatile and that’s what helped him lead this team. I’ve seen him grow as player and as a man because he has been here almost as long as I have. We knew he could be the leader of this team, and he lived up to our expectations.”



Down to the wire

While the Bearkats had games that made it a little easier to breathe, the end of the season was enough to leave anybody needing a long vacation. Sam Houston continued to find different ways to win, but the last four games were more like something out of a Hollywood movie.

It started with the season finale against archrival Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks led by 14 points with four minutes to go, then as if scripted, the Kats went on a dramatic 16-0 run in the final minutes to retake the lead at 72-70, only to lose on a last second 3-pointer.

Sure that was a tough loss, but it showed that no matter how deep the hole, the Kats could climb out. It was the theme of the season.

Then in the opening round of the SLC tournament, SHSU had to rally twice to force two overtimes against Texas-Arlington before John Gardiner hit the shot of the year for an 86-84 victory and a rematch with SFA in the semifinal.

And again, the Lumberjacks led late into the game, but this time the Bearkats prevailed to meet up with Northwestern for a chance to go to the big dance.

As was the story, this game was all Demons early at Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, La. Northwestern State fans were already making plans for the NCAA tournament with their team up 14 with six and a half minutes left.

But the Bearkats had a little left in the tank, and when back-to-back 3s by Jordan made it a three-point game at the 2:08 mark, the only thing anyone in the former airplane hangar could hear was the group of Bearkat faithful in the back corner.

Even though the Demons would go on to win by making clutch free throws down the stretch, the Bearkats didn’t hold their heads down. They were so close to making it to the NCAA tournament, a goal no one expected before the beginning of the season.

And they did it all on heart.

“Our group did that all year, and you know that they had tremendous heart and were going to give it their best shot every time out on the court,” Marlin said. “They always made it interesting at the end. This was one of the most rewarding year’s I’ve ever had as a coach.”



The end or a new beginning?

This was supposed to be Northwestern State’s year, and the Demons delivered. They were a senior-laden team and used that experience to win it all. Just take a look at their NCAA tournament first-round upset over third-seeded Iowa.

The Bearkats, in the meantime, were left with nothing to show for a 22-win season, the only team with that many victories not to get invited to the postseason.

While losing a player the caliber of Jordan hurts, next season is certainly looking bright. Sam Houston will have six seniors back and some very talented, seasoned juniors and sophomores.

And knowing these guys, they’ll pass on their work ethic and never-say-die attitude to the new recruits when they get here.

        

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