Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern State
Demons Press Out Win Over SFA
3/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2008
KATY, Texas - Northwestern State led for only one minute, 49 seconds of Friday's Southland Conference Tournament semifinal game against Stephen F. Austin. Unfortunately for the Lumberjacks, it was the final 1:49, as the Demons knocked SFA from the tournament with a 69-66 verdict in the Merrell Center.
The Demons' high-pressure defense forced 15 second-half turnovers and finished the game with a 22-7 advantage in points off turnovers, with 18 of those 22 coming in the second half.
"It was a very exciting game," SFA head coach Danny Kaspar said. "Unfortunately, we came up on the short end of the stick. Both teams played very hard. At the end I think their bench proved to be the difference. They were fresher at the end than us."
The Demons, who played 10 players and platooned in groups of five for most of the game, finished with a 29-6 edge in points off the bench.
SFA (26-5) held a 13-point edge at halftime, but Northwestern State quickly trimmed the lead to three (42-39). The Lumberjacks responded with a rally that was punctuated by some big plays.
Senior Kyle Jacobs rejected an attempted dunk by Jerry Moody, and Eric Bell pushed the ball ahead to Josh Alexander for an SFA dunk at the other end to stretch the lead back to nine at the 13:21 mark. After a missed shot by Northwestern on its ensuing possession, Bell ran the floor and finished with a layup to stretch the lead to 11 at 52-41. Another Demon miss and a Matt Kingsley dunk at the other end off a pass from Bell put the lead back at 13.
But the Lumberjacks gave up eight turnovers in the next 11 minutes, allowing Northwestern to chip away at the lead. The Demons took their first lead of the game at the 1:49 mark on a jumper by Keithan Hancock -- who finished with 20 points -- and Northwestern State was able to hold on from there.
"I knew that Mike's (McConathy) teams are always teams of runs and that they would make a run at us," Kaspar said.
Kingsley finished tied for game-highs with 22 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie added 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a 4-for-8 showing from 3-point range. Sophomore point guard Eric Bell finished with eight points and eight assists. Junior forward Josh Alexander -- still playing through a hip injury -- scored nine points on 4-of-11 shooting. Junior Nick Shaw chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.
For the second straight game against the Demons, SFA opened with a hot-shooting first half. The Lumberjacks knocked down 48.1 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range to take a 36-23 lead to the locker room.
SFA was just as efficient at the other end of the floor, holding Northwestern to 28.6 percent from the floor and only a 1-for-9 effort from 3-point range. The Lumberjacks also enjoyed a 21-14 edge in rebounding with six offensive boards in the first half.
SFA outscored Northwestern, 12-8, in the paint in the opening period, led by nine points and six rebounds from Kingsley in the opening period. When the Demons closed down on the SFA inside game, Fonzie led the early charge from outside, canning four of his six first-half 3-point attempts. Bell and Alexander each added a first-half trey.
The Lumberjacks' largest lead of the opening period was 17 points, but SFA failed to hit a field goal in the final 2:04 of the half, and Northwestern was able to close the gap to 13 at the break.
For the game, SFA shot 50 percent to 41.4 percent for the Demons, but the Lumberjacks went 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the second half, including misses on each of their last two possessions. SFA beat Northwestern on the boards, 35-28, for the game.
With the loss, SFA is eliminated from the SLC Tournament. The Lumberjacks have earned an automatic bid to the National Invitational Tournament, thanks to their SLC regular-season championship. The NIT field will be announced late Sunday evening. Northwestern State (15-17) advances to meet Texas-Arlington in the SLC Tournament championship game Sunday at noon.
"It feels like (the season's) over, but it's not," Kingsley said after the loss. "We've still got some practices left and some games left, and we feel like we can do some damage in the NIT."
Visit www.sfajacks.com for further updates on the Lumberjacks' NIT bid.
-- SFA --
