GAME NOTES: East Central
12/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
East Central at Stephen F. Austin
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009 • 7:00 p.m. (CST)
Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: KTBQ 107.7-FM • TV: None • Online: SFA All-Access
Lumberjacks
Record: 6-3
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/L1
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 383-159
At SFA: 164-107
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Tigers
Record: 5-4
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/W2
Coach: Terry Shannon
Career: 76-109
At ECU: Same
SID: Brian Johnson
E-mail: bjohnson@ecok.edu
Web: ecutigersports.com
GAME INFORMATION
HO-HO-HOME: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will play its lone remaining home game of 2009 on Tuesday, when the 'Jacks host East Central. The game against the Tigers is SFA's first in Johnson Coliseum since a win over Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 5, and the 'Jacks will not be back home until their Jan. 2 game against Texas College. SFA is 6-3 entering the game, and the 'Jacks are coming off their first loss in nearly a month. East Central held a 5-4 mark heading into its game at Texas A&M-Kingsville Monday night.
LAST GAME: SFA had a good look at a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired in Saturday's game at Arkansas, but Mark Gomillia's shot bounced off the rim to seal a 72-69 win for the Razorbacks. SFA led, 33-28, at halftime, but Arkansas upped its shooting from 34 percent in the first half to 67 percent after the break to take the win. The Razorbacks led by 11 -- their largest lead of the game -- with five minutes to play, before a 7-0 run got SFA back within striking distance. Senior Walt Harris scored a career-high 22 points in just 23 minutes, after a back injury forced him to sit down with 15 minutes left in the second half. Junior forward Jordan Glynn scored a career-high 14 points and tied his career best with 11 rebounds to post his fourth consecutive double-double and fifth straight double-figure rebounding performance. Sophomore center Jereal Scott scored 10 second-half points and pulled down six boards in the second period to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
THE TIGERS: East Central is 5-4 heading into its game at Texas A&M-Kingsville Monday night. The Tigers are coming off a five-game home stand that saw them go 3-2 after splitting a four-game road swing to open the season. Going into Monday's game, East Central had won consecutive contests, knocking off Southwestern Christian and Rhema Bible College last week.
vs. EAST CENTRAL: SFA is 4-1, all-time, against the Tigers. The Lumberjacks are undefeated in four home games against East Central. The only Tigers' win in the series is a 63-61 neutral-site verdict in the Cameron Tournament at Lawton, Okla., during the 1976-77 season. The teams have not met since SFA joined the NCAA Division I ranks. Their last game was in the 1985-86 season and ended with the 'Jacks taking a 50-45 victory.
COVERAGE: Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on the Lumberjack Sports Network via KTBQ 107.7-FM. Rob Meyers has the call. The broadcast is available online at Q1077.com. Fans can also track the game online via GameTracker for free or by signing up for SFA All-Access on SFAJacks.com.
UP NEXT: SFA will play in the two-day St. Mary's Shamrock Classic, starting Dec. 29, in Moraga, Calif. The Lumberjacks will take on Binghamton on the first day and Howard on the tournament's second day.
NEWS AND NOTES
CAREER-HIGH: Senior Walt Harris has posted a new career high in scoring in three of the Lumberjacks' last five games. Harris scored 15 points in SFA's win at Jackson State, then led the team with 20 points in the win over Cal State Fullerton. At Arkansas, Harris scored 22 points in 23 minutes, but was forced to the bench with a strained back muscle with 15 minutes remaining in the second half.
BAD BREAK: The halftime break in SFA's game at Arkansas hurt the Lumberjacks' momentum. SFA went to the locker room with a 33-28 lead but was outscored, 44-36, in the second period of a 72-69 defeat. After shooting 48 percent in the opening half, the 'Jacks slumped to 39 percent after halftime, while the Razorbacks went from 34 percent in first frame to 67 percent following the break. The defeat marks the first time this season for SFA to lose a game in which it led at the break.
DOUBLING UP: Junior forward Jordan Glynn has put together a streak like none yet seen in Danny Kaspar's 10 seasons as head coach at SFA. Including his 14-point, 11-rebound performance at Arkansas, Glynn has posted four straight double-doubles and five consecutive games with at least 10 rebounds.
TRIPLE THREAT: The Lumberjacks defended the 3-point arc better than any team in the country in 2008-09. SFA led the nation by holding opponents to 26.6 percent from 3-point range last season. Through nine games in 2009-10, Lumberjack foes are hitting 45.0 percent from behind the arc. That figure ranks 334th out of 334 Division I teams in the country.
WIN STREAK: The loss at Arkansas ended SFA's win streak at five games. Prior to the loss to the Razorbacks, SFA hadn't lost a game since its two-point defeat against Texas Tech on Nov. 24. The streak included home victories against Huston-Tillotson, Southern and Cal State Fullerton, along with road wins over Jackson State and Longwood. SFA's longest winning streak last season was eight games, a run that went through the end of the regular season and Southland Conference Tournament before ending in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss against Syracuse.
ROAD-TESTED: SFA is 2-2 so far in road games with the only losses having come in the season opener against No. 18 Minnesota and at Arkansas. The Lumberjacks have defeated Jackson State and Longwood on the road. SFA was 1-4 in road, non-conference games a year ago with the only win coming at Drake. In 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the only other time a Lumberjack team has won more than one road non-conference contest in a single season was 2007-08, when the 'Jacks went 5-2 in such games.
FIRST-TIMERS: SFA has four first-time opponents on its 2009-10 schedule -- Cal State Fullerton, Longwood, Howard and Binghamton. So far, the 'Jacks are 2-0 against the first-timers with wins over Fullerton and Longwood. SFA will meet Binghamton and Howard on Dec. 29 and 30 in the St. Mary's Shamrock Office Supplies Classic.
TOURNAMENT TRENDS: SFA went 2-0 in the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic, taking wins against Southern and Cal State Fullerton. That performance moved the 'Jacks to 8-0, all-time, in home regular-season tournament contests. The Etech Classic marked SFA's first home tournament since the Tall Pines Classic in the 1976-77 season.
PERFECTION: Junior point guard Denzel Barnes put up the most efficient performance of the young season in SFA's win over Southern. Barnes came off the bench and hit all six of his field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, to put up a game-high 14 points in just 13 minutes of action. In three games that week, Barnes shot .632 from the field, .714 from 3-point range and went 7-for-7 at the foul stripe to average 12 points per contest.
TWENTY-SOMETHING: Eddie Williams scored 24 points against Jackson State. That marked the first 20-point performance by a Lumberjack this season and the first since Matt Kingsley put up 20 against UTSA in the championship game of last year's Southland Conference Tournament. Williams has broken the 20-point barrier three times in his career, twice hitting a career-high 25 points last season. Walt Harris has scored 20 or more twice this year, hitting 20 against Cal State Fullerton and 22 at Arkansas.
HALF FULL: SFA trailed at halftime in both its games against Jackson State, but the 'Jacks came back to win in both contests, as they did in their victory at Longwood. SFA is now 3-2 this year when trailing at the half. The 'Jacks went just 1-4 in such situations all of last season.
HIGH PERCENTAGE: SFA shot a season-best .585 from the field in its win over Huston-Tillotson. The 'Jacks achieved that mark by taking high-percentage shots. SFA outscored the Rams, 52-24, in the paint. Eddie Williams scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. All but one of his field goals came on layups. The .585 shooting percentage is SFA's best since shooting .630 in an 82-67 win at Jackson State during the 2007-08 season.
SLIGHT BLOCKAGE: Coming into its game with Texas Tech, SFA had gone the first two contests of the season without registering a blocked shot. But the 'Jacks swatted two attempts against Tech. The first Lumberjack to record a block in the 2009-10 campaign? Five-foot, three-inch Eric Bell. The SFA point guard knocked down a shot by Tech's John Roberson on the Red Raiders' second possession. It was Bell's fourth career rejection and his first since turning away a shot at Southeastern Louisiana in the 2007-08 season.Two of his five career blocks have come against Big 12 competition, as Bell registered a block in SFA's win at Oklahoma in 2007-08.
HOME-WRECKERS: SFA brought a 15-game homecourt winning streak into its game with Texas Tech, and the Lumberjacks had not lost a home, non-conference game since the 2006-07 campaign. But the Red Raiders left Johnson Coliseum with a 63-61 win, marking the first SFA home loss since a 75-65 defeat against UT Arlington in the second-to-last home game of the 2007-08 season. The Lumberjacks went 13-0 at home last season. SFA is now 30-2 in its last 32 home, non-conference match-ups.
COMEBACK: SFA didn't hold a lead in the second half of its home win against Jackson State until Jordan Glynn gave the Lumberjacks the lead with 1.1 seconds left. The 'Jacks are 2-3 this season in games when they trail in the final five minutes. SFA came from behind in the final five minutes just one time in the 2008-09 season.
HOME OPENER: SFA knocked off Jackson State, 62-61, in the 2009-10 home opener. Head coach Danny Kaspar's teams are 10-0 in home openers at SFA. The last time an SFA team failed to win its home opener was a 67-55 loss to Texas A&M in 1998.
RECORD LOWS IN MINNESOTA: SFA's 82-42 loss at Minnesota goes into the books as the worst margin of defeat in nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The previous record was a 31-point defeat (92-61) at Arizona in the first game of the 2001-02 season. In all, the 'Jacks have suffered just 12 losses by 20 or more points, and only two by 30 or more, in 264 games under Kaspar.
SEASON OPENERS: SFA is 6-4 in season-opening games under head coach Danny Kaspar. The Lumberjacks have compiled an 11-13 record in season openers as a Division I program (since 1986-87 season). SFA is 1-4 under Kaspar when opening on the road and is just 1-7, in all, as a Division I program when playing the season opener on the road. The Lumberjacks' only season-opening road win in the last 23 seasons was an 82-72 verdict at Tulsa to start the 2005-06 campaign.
FOUR OF A KIND: Former McLennan Community College players Walt Harris, Jordan Glynn, Orren Tims and Eric Bell make SFA the only Division I team in the country with four players from the same junior college on its roster.
BIG WILL: At six feet, 10 inches tall, Will Reinke is the tallest player signed in Danny Kaspar's nine-year tenure at SFA. The only other Lumberjack over 6-9 to play under Kaspar is Stephen Cobb, a 6-11 center who was on the team when Kaspar took over.
ATTENDANCE: SFA ranked second in the Southland Conference last season in average attendance, drawing 3,140 fans per home game. So far this season, the 'Jacks average 2,394 fans per contest.
SAFE AT HOME: In nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 105-28 (.789) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 301-119 (.717) all-time in the Coliseum. The Lumberjacks finished the 2008-09 home slate with a perfect 13-0 record, marking the fourth straight season and the sixth time in seven years for SFA to post double-digit wins at home.
-- SFA --
