Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
SFA Ices Lamar
2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Matt Kingsley just missed his third consecutive double-double, as Stephen F. Austin took a 74-62 win over Lamar Saturday in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The senior center scored 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead SFA to a crucial Southland Conference victory.
With the win, the Lumberjacks move to 15-6 on the year and 7-2 in SLC play. With Nicholls State's Saturday loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, SFA moves back into sole possession of first place in the SLC East Division. The Cardinals fall to 12-10 on the season and 3-6 in conference play. SFA is now 10-0 at home this season.
Kingsley scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first half, helping SFA to a 34-28 halftime lead. But a pair of Lamar shooting droughts proved to be just as key in the game.
Following Kenny Dawkins' 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a 23-22 first-half lead, Lamar failed to find the basket from the field for nearly five minutes, allowing SFA to build an 11-point margin. Kingsley started a 12-0 run with a jumper at the 4:10 mark, and, over the next 3:03, SFA went 4-for-5 from the floor, with Kingsley sinking another bucket and Eric Bell and Nick Shaw wrapping a pair of 3-pointers around a steal and layup by Eddie Williams.
Lamar stopped the bleeding with a jumper by Dawkins at the 44-second mark, then Charlie Harper banked in a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a six-point game at halftime.
But the Cardinals' shooting fortunes didn't turn in the second frame. After halftime, Lamar went nearly a full 10 minutes without a bucket, missing its first eight shots from the floor before Jay Brown put in a layup with 10:05 to play. That basket took the margin from 20 to 18 points and started a steady push to narrow the gap, until Lamar trailed by just five, 66-61, with 56 seconds to play.
But the Cardinals were forced to foul, and SFA, facing the top free-throw shooting team in the SLC, had its first perfect night of the season at the stripe. Coming into the game's final minute, SFA had shot just two free throws (a pair of Kingsley makes), but the Lumberjacks went 8-for-8 at the line - including a 4-of-4 showing by Bell - to seal the win.
Lamar was just 6-for-19 from the field in the second period and stayed in the game by going 20-of-26 at the foul stripe after halftime. The Cardinals were 24-for-31 overall on free throws. Dawkins finished with 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field.
SFA finished at 54.9 percent from the field, just the eighth time this season - and the first time in eight games - for the Lumberjacks to break .500. The Lumberjacks held Lamar to 37.8 percent from the field and finished dead-even with the Cardinals in rebounding at 27 boards apiece.
Alexander and Bell joined Kingsley in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Bell added five assists, and senior Nick Shaw tied a career-high with four dimes to go along with his seven points.
The 13 points broke Alexander out of a slump that had seen him score three, eight and two points, respectively over the Lumberjacks' last three games. His first points Saturday came on a monster dunk off a lob pass from Bell with 7:13 to play in the first half. The play energized the crowd of 4,983, and Kingsley followed suit with a two-handed flush off a feed from Williams on the next SFA possession.
That sequence put SFA ahead, 22-18, before Lamar answered with a jumper by Brown and the Dawkins 3-pointer that led into the Cardinal scoring drought.
Alexander went 3-for-6 from 3-point range in the second half and finished 3-of-9 from long distance for the game. The three triples are the most he's hit since going 3-for-6 against Nicholls State on Jan. 17.
Kingsley's 26 points are the most he's scored since setting a career-high with 33 against Jackson State. He now has five 20-point games this season and is averaging 16.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest in SLC play.
Bell finished one point off a season-high with the third double-figure scoring game of the year for him in an injury plagued junior season. He was 2-for-2 from 3-point range, tying a season-best.
The Lumberjacks will return to action Wednesday, when they travel to Natchitoches, La., to take on Northwestern State. The game against the Demons is set for a 7 p.m. tip.
-- SFA --
