Stephen F. Austin
Alabama A&M
Paez Has 29 To Lead SFA To Win
12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2004
NACOGDOCHES, Texas-- The Lumberjacks led from wire-to-wire Monday night in handing the Alabama A&M Bulldogs (3-6) an 85-62 loss in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA (4-5) jumped out to a 12-5 lead just minutes into the game and was never threatened by the Bulldogs. The Lumberjacks stretched the lead to as many as 24 points in the first half before taking a 42-24 lead into the half.
Anthony Paez scored a career high 29 points in leading a trio of Lumberjacks in double figures. Marcus Clark scored 19 and Taylor Moore added 10 for SFA. Joe Martin and Galen Gardenhire led Alabama A&M with 17 each.
The `Jacks came out of Saturday's last second win over Centenary with an inspired level of play and handled Alabama A&M in all aspects of the game Monday night. The Lumberjacks dominated the boards, pulling down 38 rebounds to the Bulldogs' 21. Moore and Rodrigo Segantim led the Lumberjacks on the glass with seven rebounds each.
The `Jacks shot the ball well, connecting on 28 of 53 field goal attempts (.528). SFA was also seven of 16 on three point attempts (.438) and was 22-25 (.880) from the free throw line. Those numbers reflected the averages the `Jacks put up over the first three games of the season before a scoring slump saw them lose three straight, including an earlier 68-42 loss to the Bulldogs.
Alabama A&M came out in the second half and cut the lead to 13 points, 45-32 with 18:04 remaining before the `Jacks stretched the lead back to 18 points just two minutes later. Galen Gardenhire hit four straight three pointers in the opening five minutes of the second half.
The `Jacks withstood the short run and led by as many as 27 points before Danny Kaspar cleared the bench.
SFA takes a break for the Christmas holidays for the remainder of the week and returns to action Dec. 30 with a home game against Howard Payne University. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. ™
