Stephen F. Austin
North Dakota State
`Jacks Win In Triple-OT Thriller
12/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - Walt Harris' jumper in the paint with four seconds left gave Stephen F. Austin a 112-111, triple-overtime win against North Dakota State Friday night in the opening round of the Drake Hy-Vee Classic.
The shot brought an end to the longest SFA game in the program's Division I history and the highest-scoring contest since the 1994-95 season. The Lumberjacks advance to the second round of the Hy-Vee Classic, where they will take on the winner of Friday's late game between host team Drake and Georgia Southern.
Harris' shot answered a 3-point play by North Dakota State's Ben Woodside that put the Bison ahead, 111-110, with 18 seconds left. After freshman point guard Jarrod McDaniel brought the ball into the frontcourt, he handed off to Harris, who was left one-on-one at the top of the 3-point arc. Harris faked to his right, then dribbled past his defender before pulling up from 12 feet. His shot bounced twice on the iron before settling into the twine for what proved to be the game-winner.
Woodside took a running 3-pointer at the other end that glanced off the iron and out of bounds off a Lumberjack with .03 seconds left on the clock. On the ensuing in-bounds play, Brett Winkelman took flight at the free throw line and shot the ball before touching the ground, but his attempt rattled off the rim, securing the win for SFA.
Sophomore guard Eddie Williams led the Lumberjacks (5-2) with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Senior forward Josh Alexander scored 24, and senior center Matt Kingsley added 23 with a game-high 13 rebounds.
Woodside went 14-of-32 from the floor and hit 30 of his 35 free throw attempts in setting a new career-high and new Knapp Center record with 60 points. He did nearly all of his scoring after halftime, as the Lumberjacks held him to seven points in the opening period.
The 5-11, 185-pound point guard was instrumental in NDSU's late run that erased a big Lumberjack lead in the second half. NDSU took its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 1:06 left by Mike Nelson. The shot capped a furious 18-4 run by the Bison that covered 4:07 and featured 10 points by Woodside.
Following the triple by Nelson, Josh Alexander put SFA back in front by two with a second-chance 3-pointer at the 53-second mark. The Bison tied the game at the other end on Woodside's 14th and 15th free throws of the game with 44 seconds left.
An Alexander 3-point attempt rattled off the iron on the ensuing SFA possession, and Woodside missed on NDSU's last possession, sending the game to overtime, tied at 78.
Woodside scored seven of the Bison's 11 points in the first overtime period. Junior point guard, Girod Adams, playing in place of starter Eric Bell, who left the game injured with eight minutes left in the second half, gave the `Jacks an answer to Woodside's penetration scoring with a pair of driving layups. Williams followed Adams' second layup with a jumper that gave SFA an 87-84 lead with 1:59 left.
Woodside cut the lead back to one with a pair of free throws at the 1:15 mark. Adams had put him at the stripe with his fifth foul of the game. Adams' replacement, freshman Jarrod McDaniel, knocked down two crucial foul shots with 29 seconds left to give SFA a three-point cushion at 89-86, but Winkelman tied the game with a three at the other end.
It was Harris who came up clutch at the line in the second overtime. After Woodside gave NDSU the early lead, Harris was fouled on a 3-point attempt. Despite coming into the game with just one free throw to his credit, the junior calmly knocked down all three shots to put SFA back in front, 92-91.
The teams traded points down the stretch, until Alexander was fouled going to the hoop for a layup with 15 seconds left. He sank the foul shot to convert the three-point play and tie the score at 100.
McDaniel pushed the ball down the floor after a Woodside miss, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out, sending the game to a third overtime.
Williams fouled out less than a minute into the third overtime period, bringing true freshman Zach Williams off the bench. After Woodside converted both foul shots resulting from Eddie Williams' foul, Alexander converted an open look from 3-point range to give SFA a 103-102 lead with 3:39 left.
Following a Woodside layup, Kingsley put SFA back in front with two free throws, and Harris chased a missed 3-pointer by Winkelman with a jumper to give the Lumberjacks a 107-104 edge.
Woodside cut the lead back to one with a pair of foul shots, then followed a pair of missed SFA opportunities with a jump shot that gave NDSU a 108-107 advantage with 57 seconds left.
Kingsley tied the count with a foul shot, then Harris connected on another jumper to make it a 110-108 game with 26 left. Woodside answered with a layup to tie it, then gave the Bison a one-point lead when he sank his foul shot with 18 seconds remaining, to set up Harris' last-second shot.
For the game, SFA shot 51.3 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from 3-point range. The Lumberjacks were a clutch 13-for-18 at the line in overtime and went 23-of-34 there for the game.
The Bison went 32-for-40 from the stripe, behind Woodside's 30-free throw night. NDSU was just 1-for-2 on free throws in the opening period. The Bison shot 44.9 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range.
SFA was outscored in the paint, in points off turnovers and second-chance points, but the Lumberjack bench outscored the NDSU reserves, 20-6, led by Harris' nine points. He went 3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 at the stripe. Adams added eight points and three assists. Senior forward Nick Shaw scored 12 points and pulled down five rebounds with three assists before fouling out in the second period.
The Lumberjacks opened strong with air-tight defense and hot shooting to jump out to a 9-0 lead. SFA hit seven of its first nine attempts from the field, while holding NDSU to a 1-for-10 showing over the game's first eight minutes. The Bison were harassed into four turnovers during that stretch, and the Lumberjacks built their advantage to 20-2 with 12:29 remaining.
NDSU didn't connect on its second field goal until Lucas Moormann tipped in a missed shot with 12:02 to play. That bucket started a run of eight straight points for the Bison to make it a 20-10 score with 10:06 remaining. Moormann's tip-in was the first of six straight made baskets that helped NDSU cut the score to 22-15 at the 8:11 mark.
The Bison trimmed the lead to four twice, down the stretch, the second time on a layup by Michael Tveidt with seven seconds left. But Bell pushed the ball up the court and banked home a 40-foot 3-point bucket at the buzzer to make it a 35-28 Lumberjack lead at the half.
Williams scored SFA's first five points and finished with 12 points in the opening period, a career-best for first-half scoring. Bell added eight points, as he went 3-for-3 in the first period, including a pair of threes.
The Lumberjacks opened the second half with a 3-pointer by Shaw to make it a 10-point lead. A Williams layup at the 15:20 mark began an 11-0 SFA run over the next three-and-a-half minutes.
Kingsley connected on his first five field goal attempts and scored 10 second-half points after posting just six in the opening period. Kingsley led an effort that saw the Lumberjacks shoot 80 percent from the field over the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Notes:
• Friday's triple-overtime game is the longest game in SFA's 23 years as a Division I program and the longest contest played by an SFA team since the Lumberjacks took a quadruple-overtime win against Southwestern, 101-99, in 1983. • The 223 combined points the two teams scored is the highest combined total in an SFA game since the Lumberjacks' 123-103 loss to San Francisco in the 1994-95 season. • The 111 points scored by North Dakota State are the most given up by a Lumberjack team in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The 78 points the Bison scored in regulation are the most allowed by SFA in a regular-season game since the Lumberjacks beat Northern Illinois, 86-78, in 2006-07. • The 60 points scored by NDSU's Ben Woodside are the most scored by an individual against SFA in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. • Friday's win marked the first win of the season for SFA outside of the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
- SFA -
