Stephen F. Austin
Texas-Arlington
Mavericks Knock Off SFA
3/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Texas-Arlington tied the largest rebounding margin by a Stephen F. Austin opponent this season and outmanned the Lumberjacks in the paint to collect a 75-65 win Saturday in the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
The Mavericks outrebounded SFA, 37-26, and outscored the Lumberjacks, 34-22, in the paint in handing SFA its first home loss of the year. The Lumberjacks (23-4, 11-2 in the Southland Conference) had won 12 straight at home and had outscored the opposition by an average of 19.3 points per game in the Coliseum, entering Saturday's game.
UTA (18-10, 7-8) opened the second half on an 8-1 run that was capped by a layup and free throw by Rod Epps to give the Mavericks a 35-34 lead, their first of the game. The lead changed hands six times from there, the last exchange coming on an offensive rebound and tip-in by Anthony Vereen that gave the Mavericks a 55-54 advantage with 6:54 left in the game. UTA had 10 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points in the final period.
The Mavericks followed Vereen's tip-in by going on an 11-2 run that gave them a 10-point lead (68-58) at the 1:15 mark. From there, UTA hit 7-of-8 at the line to seal the win. Vereen scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-14 from the field and a 9-for-13 effort at the free throw line. He finished with 12 rebounds.
SFA shot 48.3 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3-point range in the first half to take a 33-27 lead to the locker room. But the Lumberjacks' shooting dipped to 30.8 percent from the field after halftime, and they coughed the ball up seven times in the second period, after committing just three turnovers in the opening frame.
Junior forward Josh Alexander went 5-for-12 from 3-point range to score a team-high 25 points for the Lumberjacks. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie added 12 points, as did junior center Benson Akpan. Akpan finished with six rebounds, one behind the seven pulled down by freshman guard Eddie Williams.
The loss ends SFA's winning streak at eight games, but the Lumberjacks still have an outside shot at collecting the program's first-ever Southland Conference championship. SLC leader Lamar lost at McNeese State, 74-71, Saturday, keeping the Cardinals just one game ahead of SFA in the league standings. Each team has two games remaining. The Lumberjacks will next play Wednesday, when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a 7 p.m. game at the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
-- SFA --
