Blue Raiders emerge victorious over Sam Houston, 77-75, on the road

Thursday, January 23

Huntsville, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Sam Houston

1/23/2025 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book

By: Jayce Standridge

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Jestin Porter made his return to his hometown area and lit up the scoreboard with 28 points, including eight three-pointers, as Middle Tennessee basketball downed Sam Houston 77-75 Thursday night. The road win moved the Blue Raiders to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in league play, good for the Conference USA lead.

Both the Blue Raiders and Bearkats got off to a hot start, each making four three-pointers in the first four minutes of play, with Porter and Justin Bufford hitting one before the 16-minute mark.

The Bearkats kept their shooting hot with two more made threes in the next four minutes, showcasing their near-40 percent three-point shooting. However, MTSU fought back and took the lead for the first time, 24-22, with six minutes left, thanks to back-to-back made shots from behind the arc courtesy of Porter.

Both teams kept up their rhythm and went into halftime with Sam Houston owning a narrow lead at 38-36. The Bearkats showed why they're ranked among the top 15 teams in the country in three-point percentage, making 7 of 11 threes in the first half — the most MTSU has allowed in a half this season. Porter and Essam Mostafa led the Blue Raider scoring with 12 points and four rebounds each at the break. Sam Houston's Lama Wilkerson and Marcus Boykin combined to go 5-for-6 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

At the start of the second half, it was the Jestin Porter show, with the Houston native scoring 10 points in the first four minutes. He went 2-for-2 from deep and 4-for-5 from the field to give the Blue Raiders a five-point lead, their largest of the game to that point.

MTSU continued its hot shooting, as Porter and Jlynn Counter each hitting three-pointers in a two-minute stretch to give the Blue Raiders a 61-56 lead at the under-12 media time out.

Both teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the game, with MTSU's lead hovering around five points. The score stood at 72-68 with three minutes left.

Porter once again connected on a long ball to put the score at 75-68, but the Bearkats would not go away. A difficult and-one layup made it a two-point game with 30 seconds left on the clock. After a missed shot by MTSU, Sam Houston had a chance to take the lead or send the game to overtime. The guard in orange drove to the paint, but his attempt was blocked at the rim by Bufford, sealing the win for the Blue Raiders.

Porter was the star of the offense with 28 points and eight three-pointers, a mark that matches his career high and is tied for second-most threes made in a single game in program history. Mostafa finished just short of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Counter and Cam Weston added 10 and 11 points, respectively.

By the Numbers:
20: This marked the eighth game of the season in which Porter scored at least 20 points. He has scored at least 27 points in three of the last four games.
16: Mostafa reached double-digit scoring for the sixth straight game and was just one rebound shy of his 10th double-double of the season.
15: Jacob Johnson posted a season high in nearly every category, including points (4), minutes (27), field goals made (2), field goals attempted (3), free throws attempted (2), rebounds (4), and assists (2).
6: Jlynn Counter racked up six assists on the evening, the second most of the season, while giving up zero turnovers.

McDevitt's Mic:
"You've got to credit them (Sam Houston). They have a great coach and are battling the injury bug like we did last year. They had some tough guys down low with blocks, but our guys battled hard. What I really liked to see from our team was how few turnovers we had during the game."

Up Next:
Middle Tennessee concludes its road trip this weekend, heading to Ruston, La., to face Louisiana Tech Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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