GAME NOTES: Etech Lumberjack Classic
12/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Etech Lumberjack Classic
Southern at Stephen F. Austin
Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 • 7:15 p.m. (CST)
Cal State Fullerton at Stephen F. Austin
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 • 7:15 p.m. (CST)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: KTBQ 107.7-FM • TV: None • Online: SFA All-Access
Lumberjacks
Record: 3-2
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/W2
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 380-158
At SFA: 161-106
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Jaguars
Record: 0-6
Last 5/Streak: 0-5/L5
Coach: Rob Spivery
Career: 337-347
At SU: 48-91
SID: Kevin Manns
E-mail: kevinmanns@gmail.com
Web: gojagsports.com
Titans
Record: 3-0
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/W3*
Coach: Bob Burton
Career: 110-77
At CSF: 110-77
SID: Mel Franks
E-mail: mfranks@fullerton.com
Web: fullertontitans.com
GAME INFORMATION
'JACKS SET FOR A CLASSIC: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will host its first regular-season tournament in 33 years this weekend, when the 'Jacks play in the Etech Lumberjack Classic. The 'Jacks will take on Southern on Friday and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday in the four-team classic. Southland Conference member Central Arkansas is the fourth team involved and will play the same two opponents, opposite of SFA's schedule. SFA brings a 3-2 record and two straight wins into the Classic. Southern enters with an 0-6 record, Cal State Fullerton comes in at 3-0, and Central Arkansas is 1-5 on the season.
LAST GAME: Eddie Williams scored a season-high 24 points and ripped off a career-best seven steals to lead SFA to a 79-68 win at Jackson State on Tuesday. The victory gives the Lumberjacks a season sweep in their two-game, home-and-home series against the Tigers. SFA also posted a 62-61 win over Jackson State at home, earlier this season. Tuesday, the Lumberjacks shot 51 percent from the field and outrebounded the Tigers, 31-24, led by Jordan Glynn's career-high 10 rebounds. Walt Harris and Denzel Barnes joined Williams in double digits scoring with 15 and 12 points, respectively -- both career highs.
THE CLASSIC: The Etech Lumberjack Classic marks the first regular-season, tournament-format event in the William R. Johnson Coliseum since the final Tall Pines Classic in the 1976-77 season. In all, SFA is 6-0 in three previous home tournaments. The 'Jacks won the Tall Pines Classic in both 1975 and 1976 and captured the Stephen F. Austin Tournament in 1963.
COVERAGE: All games in the Etech Lumberjack Classic can be followed online via GameTracker on SFAJacks.com. Each of the Lumberjacks' games in the Classic will be streamed live on SFA All-Access. The audio of SFA's game Friday will be streamed online via Yahoo! sports and will accompany the video stream. Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Q107.7 FM.
UP NEXT: SFA will hit the road for two straight games. The 'Jacks play at Longwood in Virginia on Dec. 12, then travel to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas on Dec. 19.
NEWS AND NOTES
ROAD WIN: SFA's 79-68 victory at Jackson State marks the Lumberjacks' first road win of the year and their first non-conference road win since taking a 66-64 verdict at Drake on Dec. 13 of last year.
TWENTY-SOMETHING: Eddie Williams scored 24 points against Jackson State. That's 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.
HALF-FULL: SFA trailed at halftime in both its games against Jackson State, but the 'Jacks came back to win in both contests. SFA is now 2-2 when trailing at the half. The 'Jacks went 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 in 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 27-2 in its last 29 home, non-conference match-ups.
CAREER HIGHS: Seniors Eddie Williams and Walt Harris posted a pair of career highs in the win over Jackson State. Williams pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, bettering his previous top mark by one. Harris' 13 points were also a career-best. His previous high was 11 points.
COMEBACK: SFA didn't hold a lead in the second half of its win against Jackson State until Jordan Glynn gave the Lumberjacks the lead with 1.1 seconds left. 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.
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE: Eric Bell and Eddie Williams combined to account for nearly 45 percent of SFA's assists a year ago. Their total comprises almost 90 percent of the assists posted by returning players.
POINTS SPREAD THIN: With the graduation of four seniors, including two of the top scorers in Lumberjack history (Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsley), SFA enters the 2009-10 season missing 74 percent of its scoring production from last year. In all, the 'Jacks lost five of their top six scorers from 2008-09 with Eddie Williams' 7.4 points per game being the top returning average.
ON THE REBOUND: In addition to losing most of the scoring punch from a year ago, the Lumberjacks come into the new season missing 80 percent of their rebounding from 2008-09. SFA lost four of its top five rebounders to graduation. Jereal Scott's 2.4 boards per contest are the top returning average.
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 2,706 fans per contest.
SITTIN' ON TWENTY: SFA's win over Central Arkansas last season on March 4 gave the Lumberjacks their second straight 20-win season and the fourth in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. At 24-8 overall, SFA finished as the only team in the Southland Conference with single digits in the loss column.
SAFE AT HOME: In nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 103-28 (.786) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 299-119 (.715) 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.
RANK AND FILE: The Lumberjacks received 15 votes in the first CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll of the season but did not earn any votes in this week's poll. SFA finished three spots outside the final poll of 2008-09 with 30 votes. Three weeks before that, the 'Jacks fell out of the poll for the first time in over a year. SFA spent 25 consecutive weeks in the poll after breaking in during December of the 2007-08 season. SFA began last season at No. 11, the first time in the poll's 10-year history for SFA to enter the season as a ranked team and the highest entry to the poll for a Lumberjack team to date. In December of last season, SFA was ranked No. 10, marking the earliest move into the top 10 for the `Jacks since the poll began.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
FOR THE RECORD: Southern is 0-6 coming into Friday's showdown with SFA. The Jaguars have played six straight games away from home -- the last two were neutral-site contests in the Las Vegas Invitational -- to open the season and will not have a home game until they host New Orleans on Dec. 12, following this weekend's Etech Classic. Southern has dropped three games by greater than 30 points, including a season-worst 107-51 blowout at BYU on Nov. 24. Since that game, the Jaguars have suffered an 81-66 loss against Wofford and a 71-69 loss -- their closest of the season -- to Presbyterian College. Both those games came in the Las Vegas Invitational.
LAST GAME: Presbyterian College shot nearly 60 percent in the second half to come from behind for a 71-69 win over Southern on Nov. 28 in the Las Vegas Invitational. Southern opened the game by shooting 58 percent to take a 39-31 lead to the locker room at halftime. But the Jaguars cooled to 38 percent in the second period, while Presbyterian hit 59.1 percent from the field. The Blue Hose also committed just five turnovers against 13 for Southern. The Jaguars finished with a 33-28 advantage in rebounding, led by 10 boards from senior forward Earnest Jones. He also scored 14 points to finish with a double-double. Senior guard Jazz Williams hit six 3-pointers to finish with a team-best 19 points.
KEY NUMBERS: The Jaguars carry a negative margin in scoring, rebounding and turnovers. They've been outscored by an average of 26.8 points, have a minus-12.2-boards per game average and turn the ball over five more times per contest than the opposition.
LEADERS: Senior guard Jazz Williams leads Southern with 15.0 points per game and is shooting 41 percent from the floor. He has also taken 78 shots, 33 more attempts than the next-highest total on the team. Senior forward Earnest Jones' 7.0 rebounds per game lead the squad, but no other player is averaging more than four boards per contest. Junior guard Nick Walls leads the team with 3.7 assists per game.
SCOUTING THE TITANS
FOR THE RECORD: Cal State Fullerton is a perfect 3-0 entering play in the Etech Lumberjack Classic. The Titans should be well-rested, having played just one game in the last 18 days. Fullerton opened the season with a 93-57 blowout against Hope Interntional, then pulled off an upset with a 68-65 win in double overtime at UCLA on Nov. 16. Since then, the Titans have played just once, taking an 84-73 victory over New Mexico State on Nov. 24.
LAST GAME: The Titans had to come from way behind to knock off New Mexico State, 84-73, last week. The Aggies jumped out to a 25-3 lead in the first 10 minutes as Cal State Fullerton hit just one of its first 15 shots. But the Titans finished the first period on a 22-12 run then opened the second half by scoring 12 unanswered to take the lead for good. After trailing by as many as 18 points in the second period, New Mexico State worked the margin back down to four points with a 26-12 run. But Fullerton dominated the final two minutes of the contest to secure the win. Five Titans reached double digits in scoring, led by 22 from senior forward Aaron Thompson. Sophomore guard Jacques Streeter added 20 points, and Jer'Vaughn Johnson recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
KEY NUMBERS: The Titans have parlayed a strong .494 shooting percentage and a .383 average from outside the arc into a high-scoring offensive attack. Cal State Fullerton averages 81.7 points per game and has outscored its opponents by an average of 16.7 points per contest, despite the close double-overtime verdict at UCLA. The Titans have held all three opponents below 28 percent from 3-point range, including a 5-for-29 effort from distance by the Bruins. Fullerton averages 19.7 assists per game and posted 25 assists on 28 made baskets in the win over New Mexico State.
LEADERS: Senior forward Aaron Thompson leads the Titans with 18.0 points per game and is tied for third on the team in rebounding with 6.7 boards per contest. Thompson's .667 shooting percentage from 3-point range leads the squad, and he has connected on eight triples in three games. Sophomore guard Jacques Streeter averages 13.0 points per game and leads the team with 17 assists. Jer'Vaughn Johnson's 7.3 rebounds per game lead the team.
OF NOTE: In 12 previous games in Texas, the Titans are a combined 3-9. Two of those three wins came against fellow Southland Conference schools. Fullerton has picked up wins at UTSA and UT Arlington and also collected a victory at North Texas.
-- SFA --
