SFA Hosts Houston Baptist
1/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2005
FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME: The Lumberjacks open 2005 with the final non-conference game of the season Monday night against Houston Baptist University. SFA enters Monday night's game having won three straight and with a chance to move over the .500 mark for the first time this season. The Huskies, members of the Red River Athletic Conference, enter the game on a four game winning streak and stand at 7-4, 4-0 on the year. With a win, SFA can post its third straight winning record in non-conference play. The `Jacks were 9-2 in non-conference play a year ago and went 4-3 in non-conference action during the 2002-03 season.
THE LAST GAME: The `Jacks moved to 5-5 on the year with an 84-46 win over Howard Payne University. The win also extended SFA's current win streak to three straight. The Lumberjacks quickly moved out to a 15-6 lead in the opening minutes and were never seriously threatened in the game. G Marcus Clark scored a game high and tied a career high with 25 points against the Yellowjackets. G Josh Porter also continued to show signs of returning to his early season form with 21-points in the win. F Hank Rivers also returned to the line-up and led the team with a game high 11 rebounds and added eight points. G Leonard Brown also set a new career high with nine assists in 26 minutes of action off the bench. SFA's defense held Howard Payne to only 46 points, the lowest point total of the season by an opponent and also held HPU to a .302 field goal percentage while forcing 25 turnovers.
VS. THE OPPONENT: The Lumberjacks lead the series, 10-1. The `Jacks opened the 2003-04 season with a 98-83 win over Houston Baptist in the last meeting between the two teams.
THE OPPONENT: Houston Baptist enters the game at 7-4 on the season and 4-0 in conference play. The Huskies lost four straight early in the season, but bounced back to win four straight before taking a break for the holidays. Houston Baptist has not played a game since a 92-86 win over SW Assemblies of God, Dec. 16. HBU has four players averaging in double figures with Ricky Bennett leading the way at 18.7 ppg. Josh Jones is adding 17.9 ppg, while Chris Miller is adding 16.5 ppg and Ben McCain rounds it out at 10.7 ppg. Miller also leads the team in rebounding and is averaging a double-double per night with his 12.4 rebounds per game. Bennett is also adding 6.7 rebounds per game for the Huskies. Houston Baptist is outrebounding opponents by an average of over 10 rebounds per game. The Huskies return three starters and five letterwinners from last year's 27-6 team.
THE COACHES: The Lumberjacks are coached by Danny Kaspar (288-106) in his fifth year with the Lumberjacks. Kaspar is 69-54 at SFA. The fifth year head coach can move past Ned Fowler into fifth place on the all-time wins list with 10 more wins this year. Houston Baptist is coached by Ron Cottrell (293-149) in his 14th season as the head coach at Houston Baptist.
UP NEXT: The Lumberjacks close out the four game home stand with the Southland Conference opener against Northwestern State, Jan. 6. The `Jacks then begin a stretch of three straight SLC road games at UL-Monroe (1/13), Sam Houston (1/15) and at Nicholls State (1/19). ™
