GAME NOTES: The Sam Houston State Bearkats are set to tangle with South Dakota in round-robin play of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic inside Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard.

Sam Houston went on the road and fought tooth and nail at host school UNLV this past Sunday, only to come away with a 59-57 loss in the waning moments. The Bearkats opened their season last Friday with a 100-52 rout of Division III foe Austin College. They'll wrap up their involvement in this tournament with two more games against Fairfield and Wofford on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

South Dakota is winless through two games under first-year head coach Craig Smith. The Coyotes kicked off the 2014-15 campaign last Friday with a 60-52 setback at Utah Valley, then suffered an 84-73 setback at Stanford two days later against a Cardinal squad that is receiving Top-25 votes. Following this tilt, they'll stick around Bridgeport to face Wofford and Fairfield over the next two days to wrap up the tournament.

This bout marks the first-ever meeting between these two teams.

Trailing 57-49 with just under four minutes to play against UNLV, the Bearkats went on an 8-2 run to make it a two-point game in the final seconds. Dakari Hendenson had a 3-point look from the left side at the buzzer, but the shot rimmed out and UNLV held on for the win. SHSU shot just 30.4 percent from the floor, but made up for it with a 53-39 rebounding advantage. The Bearkats also held the Runnin' Rebels to 36.8 percent shooting for the game. Kaheem Ranson led the way with 13 points in the loss, followed by Jabari Peters with 11. Ranson's third 3-pointer of the contest came with 17 seconds left and cut the deficit to 58-57. Recognized as the Southland Conference's Player of the Week, Ranson is averaging 10.5 points, seven assists and five rebounds per contest.

Brandon Boss paces USD with 15.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per tilt, while Tyler Larson is averaging 12.0 points and 5.0 boards. However, the Coyotes have shot just 34.5 percent from the floor as a team, including 25.6 percent from beyond the arc. They were also out-rebounded against Stanford last Sunday, 42-29. Boss was the team's leading scorer in that game with 19 points to go along with seven rebounds, although he connected on only 6-of-19 attempts from the floor. Larson finished with 11 points, five assists and five boards. Stanford led by as many as 16 early in the second half before USD chopped that margin in half down the stretch.

Both teams are coming off hard-fought games against superior competition. SHSU has the size advantage, but the Bearkats will need to make shots more consistently if they hope to get back into the win column.