Blue Raiders Edge Sam Houston in Thrilling finish

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Trailing by one point with just three seconds on the clock, Middle Tennessee‘s (9-5, 3-0 CUSA) Sean Smith found himself trapped along the baseline. The veteran calmly retreated to the three-point line where he found a wide-open Torey Alston under the basket and fired a rocket to the forward, who threw down a thunderous, two-handed jam to put Middle Tennessee ahead 68-67 over Sam Houston (8-6, 0-3 CUSA) to help his team win a nail biter by that same score. Middle Tennessee moves to 3-0 in conference USA, marking the first time in Nick McDevitt’s tenure as head coach the Blue Raiders have accomplished that feat.

Just as it did against LA Tech, Middle Tennessee relied once again on the three-ball to take an early 25-14 lead after the game’s first 10 minutes. The Blue Raiders were 5-of-10 from deep to that point, led by Tre Green and Jahvin Carter, who each had a pair of threes to their credit. A trio of Blue Raiders, including Green and Carter, had six points along with kamari Lands, who also grabbed two early rebounds.

Sam Houston tightened things up defensively to close out the half, holding the Blue Raiders to a stretch where they shot just 3-of-17 from the floor to overcome a 17-point deficit and tie the game at 34 going into the locker room. the Blue Raiders were also active defensively, stealing six passes and blocking a shot to force nine Bearkat turnovers in the first half. green’s eight points led the Blue Raiders in scoring while Chris Loofe’s five first-half rebounds led the Blue Raiders on the glass.

The second half was tightly contested throughout, with neither team pulling ahead of the other by more than five points.