Sam Houston St. 70, Texas-San Antonio 54

2/6/2008 10:19 PM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -Shamir McDaniel scored 13 points to help lead Sam Houston State to a 70-54 victory over Texas-San Antonio on Wednesday night.

The Bearkats (17-4, 5-3 Southland) relied on its inside scoring, hitting nearly 60 percent from the field.

McDaniel led four players in double figures. Ryan Bright scored 12 points. John Gardiner added 11 and DeLuis Ramirez had 11. Two other players scored nine points each.

Sam Houston State never trailed in the game.

Devin Gibson led Texas-San Antonio (8-12, 2-5) with 12 points.

The Roadrunners shot 35 percent from the field.

The Bearkats scored 52 of their points in the paint to only 20 for the Roadrunners, and won the rebounding battle 42-18. Bright pulled down nine boards to lead both teams.

Sam Houston State jumped to a 6-0 lead, and led at halftime, 34-25. A bucket by Russ Permenter of Texas-San Antonio to open the second half closed the lead to 7 points, but the Bearkats quickly pushed the lead to 49-31, highlighted by a layup and 3-pointer by Ashton Mitchell and two layups by Bright.