Stephen F. Austin
at A&M-Corpus
SFA Holds Off Islanders
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2009
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Stephen F. Austin had four players reach double figures and weathered a furious second-half comeback by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to hang on for a 71-66 win Saturday in the American Bank Center.
The victory moves SFA to 19-7 on the season and 11-3 in Southland Conference play. Following Sam Houston State's loss at UT-Arlington Saturday, the Lumberjacks find themselves alone in first place in the SLC with two games to play.
Senior Josh Alexander scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the first half, leading a quartet of double-digit scorers and marking the eighth time this season for at least four SFA players to reach double figures. Classmate Matt Kingsley joined him with 17 points, junior Girod Adams scored 13, and senior Benson Akpan came off the bench to score 12 points in a season-high 20 minutes of action.
After SFA led by as many as 14 in the second period, A&M-Corpus (15-14, 10-4 SLC) cut it to a four-point game (55-51) with 6:20 to play on a pair of free throws by Kevin Palmer.
Akpan answered with a fall-away jumper off an inbounds play at the other end to stretch the lead back to six. SFA got a stop on the ensuing Islander possession. Eddie Williams pulled down the defensive rebound then finished strong on a driving layup at the other end to make it a 59-51 game.
A&M-Corpus answered with a layup, but Kingsley rebounded his own miss twice, before Akpan got a layup to go on the third effort to maintain the margin.
Palmer connected on two foul shots on the next possession to draw back to within 61-55 with 4:40 to play. Kingsley answered with two free throws of his own.
The Islander got a free throw from Horace Bond, followed by a 3-pointer by Tim Green to pull to within four at 63-59 with 2:55 to play. After an SFA turnover at midcourt, Palmer knocked down a long jumper to make it a two-point game with two minutes left.
Alexander connected on both ends of a 1-and-1 opportunity to push the lead back to four. Corpus answered with a free throw by Bond to bring the Islanders back to within three with 1:27 to play.
Adams was fouled hard in the backcourt and knocked down one of two foul shots to push the lead back to 66-62.
SFA got a stop, followed by a Benson Akpan layup with 40 seconds to play. The Islanders responded with a Filip Tomcinic bucket with 28.3 seconds left to make it 68-64.
Alexander was fouled on the ensuing Lumberjack touch and hit both free throws to put SFA ahead by six, and the `Jacks forced Palmer to take a long three at the other end. Akpan pulled down the rebound and drained a free throw to set the final margin.
The Lumberjacks shot 51 percent from the field and held the Islanders to 41 percent, including an 18.8-percent effort from 3-point range. Palmer scored 20 points to lead the Islanders.
Corpus Christi led 13-6 with 15:50 to play in the first period, but Alexander canned his first 3-pointer of the night to make it a four-point game. A few minutes later, Benson Akpan converted an old-fashioned 3-point play as he was fouled on a layup and knocked down the free throw to make it a 15-12 game with 12:12 to play.
On the next Islander possession, Alexander took a steal at the top of the key and ran the floor for a layup to draw within one. Corpus turned it over on each of its next two possessions, but SFA didn't take the lead until Kingsley knocked down a jumper with 9:52 to play to make it a 16-15 game.
After the teams traded buckets, Alexander drained another 3-pointer to put SFA ahead, 20-17. From that point, the Lumberjacks went on an 11-4 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to push out to a 31-21 lead with 3:46 to play.
The streak was exclusively the doing of SFA's top two scorers. Kingsley scored three buckets, and Alexander knocked down a triple before punctuating the run with a two-handed dunk off a steal near mid-court.
The Lumberjacks shot 55.2 percent from the field in the first half and took a 39-29 lead to the locker room after leading by as many as 12 points in the period.
SFA will be back in action Wednesday, when the Lumberjacks host Central Arkansas in a 7 p.m. game.
-- SFA --
