The California Baptist Lancers and the Sam Houston Bearkats meet Wednesday in WAC Tournament college basketball action from Orleans Arena. Cal Baptist is 18-14 on the season. The Lancers beat UTRGV in tournament activity Tuesday. As for Sam Houston, they’re sitting at 18-13 this year and coming off a win over Tarleton State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Cal Baptist got off to a nice 10-3 start this year, but the team had some trouble in January and early February. The Lancers are on a nice 4-1 run over their last five though, taking out Dixie State, Chicago State, Lamar and UTRGV in that time.
In the Tuesday matchup versus UTRGV, Cal Baptist took a 37-32 lead into the break. The Lancers were outscored 44-48 from there but hung on for the 81-80 victory. Daniel Akin secured 12 rebounds with four points in the win.
Over on the Sam Houston side, their year started off on a shaky 4-8 run. The Bearkats would lose just three of the next 16 games to move to 17-11, though. After losses to Stephen F. Austin and Grand Canyon, the Bearkats took out Tarleton in their last game.
In the Tarleton game, Sam Houston carried a 29-24 edge into the second half. The Bearkats would outscore the Texans 40-26 from there in a 69-50 win. Leading scorer Savion Flagg finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Sam Houston is 4-1 ATS in their last five Wednesday games and 4-1-1 ATS in their last six overall. The Lancers are 0-4 ATS in their last four neutral-site games and 0-6 ATS in their last six Wednesday games.
PICK: I’m likely going to take a stab on Sam Houston, but probably not going near this one. The Bearkats haven’t been scoring great lately; they’ve hit fewer than 70 points in each of the last four games. The good news for Sam Houston is that they don’t need to pour in the points to win; they’ve got enough going on defensively to carry them through most comparable matchups.
As for California Baptist, they’ve been sharp over the past month or so. The Lancers lost 73-68 the last time these teams met up, so they should be right in this one as well.