GAME NOTES: at Lamar
2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at Lamar
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 • 7:05 p.m. (CST)
Montagne Center (10,080) • Beaumont, Texas
Radio: KTBQ 107.7-FM • TV: None • Online: None
Lumberjacks
Record: 16-5 (6-2)
Last 5/Streak: 5-0/W5
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 393-161
At SFA: 174-109
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Cardinals
Record: 12-11 (4-4)
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/W2
Coach: Steve Roccaforte
Career: 61-54
At LU: Same
SID: Brian Henry
E-mail: brian.henry@lamar.edu
Web: lamarcardinals.edu
GAME INFORMATION
DEALING WITH THE CARDS: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will go in search of its sixth consecutive win Saturday, when the 'Jacks take on Lamar. SFA comes into the contest as the Southland Conference East Division leader with a 16-5 overall record and a 6-2 mark in league play. The Cardinals are 12-11 on the season and third in the Southland West with a 4-4 record against conference foes.
LAST GAME: Walt Harris scored a team-high 22 points and hit the game-winning 3-pointer with eight seconds left in SFA's 68-67 overtime win against Nicholls on Wednesday. Harris scored all seven Lumberjack points in the overtime period and was SFA's only double-digit scorer, marking the first time this season for the 'Jacks to record a win with fewer than two players in double figures. Anatoly Bose scored 38 to lead the Colonels. SFA led by as many as 10 points in the game, but Nicholls outscored the 'Jacks, 11-4, over the final 2:48 of regulation to force the extra period. SFA's leading scorer Eddie Williams scored nine points in 30 minutes of action before fouling out. Jordan Glynn pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
THE CARDINALS: After recovering from a three-game Southland slide, Lamar has won two straight and is just a game-and-a-half back of second-place A&M-Corpus Christi in the West Division. All but one of the Cardinals' 12 wins have come at home, where they score an average of 14.5 points per game more than they do on the road.
vs. LAMAR: SFA is 23-23, all-time, against the Cardinals. The Lumberjacks have won seven of the last 10 meetings and four straight in the series. In 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA is 8-6 against Lamar with a 3-4 record in road games against the Cardinals during that time.
COVERAGE: Saturday's game will be broadcast live on KTBQ 107.7-FM. Rob Meyers has the call. Fans can follow the action online via GameTracker on the Lamar athletics Web site.
UP NEXT: SFA will continue Round 2 of Southland East Division play with home games against Northwestern State and McNeese State next week. The 'Jacks take on Northwestern Wednesday and host McNeese on Saturday.
NEWS AND NOTES
SOUTHLAND STREAKS: There are six programs in the 12-team Southland Conference against whom SFA currently holds a winning streak of at least four straight games. SFA has won four straight against Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, five straight against Central Arkansas and UTSA, six in a row against Southeastern Louisiana, and has recorded 10 consecutive victories against Texas State. The 'Jacks have not lost to Texas State since the 2002-03 season and are 14-2 overall against the Bobcats in Danny Kaspar's tenure.
WIN STREAKS: The loss at Arkansas ended SFA's early-season win streak at five games. SFA has matched that run with its current five-game streak, all in Southland play. 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.
BONUS BASKETBALL: SFA's 68-67 overtime win against Nicholls marked the fourth straight season for the Lumberjacks to play at least one overtime contest. SFA has played in five such contests since the 2006-07 season and has a 4-1 record in those games.
HARRIS' HEROICS: When Walt Harris hit the game-winning 3-pointer in SFA's overtime win against Nicholls, it wasn't the first such shot of his career. He also sank the game-clinching shot in the Lumberjacks' 112-111 triple-overtime victory against North Dakota State last season at the Drake Hy-Vee Classic. The following night, he provided the final margin with a layup and free throw in the final 20 seconds of a 66-64 win against Drake.
SOUTHLAND SWITCH: Through 13 non-conference games, SFA opponents shot .399 from 3-point range, a percentage that was close to dead-last in the country. Through seven conference games, Lumberjack foes have connected on just 29.5 percent of their 3-point attempts.
SPRAINED ARCHES: SFA held Northwestern State to an 0-for-11 performance from 3-point range. That marks the first time this season for the 'Jacks to hold the opposition without a 3-pointer. It's also the second time in two seasons SFA's defense has victimized the Demons in such a manner. The Lumberjacks held Northwestern to an identical 0-for-11 showing on 3-pointers in their meeting in Nacogdoches last season. In all, the Demons are 2-for-36 (.056) from 3-point range in their last three games against the 'Jacks.
BELOW-BOARD: SFA outrebounded Southeastern Louisiana, 36-19. That marked the first time all season for the Lumberjacks to hold an opponent to fewer than 20 rebounds in a game. SFA repeated that feat against Nicholls, registering a 31-19 edge in rebounding. Those two 19-board performances are the fewest recorded by an SFA foe since SFA outrebounded UTSA, 40-18, in a 60-39 win during the 2007-08 season.
BOARDED UP: Eddie Williams pulled down 12 rebounds, and Jordan Glynn grabbed 10 in SFA's win over UT Arlington. That marked the second time this season for two Lumberjacks to record double-figure rebounds in a single game. Glynn and Jereal Scott grabbed 12 and 10, respectively, against Arkansas. The 'Jacks had more than one player reach double digits in rebounding on five occasions last season.
STRAIGHT SHOOTING: SFA shot 47.6 percent (20-of-42) in its loss at Nicholls. That marks the first time in more than a season for the 'Jacks to hit at least 45 percent from the field in a losing effort. SFA went 14-0 in such performances last season and had an 8-0 mark in such games heading into the Nicholls match-up. The only other time in the last three seasons a Lumberjack team has shot that well and lost came in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals in 2008, when SFA shot 50 percent in a defeat against Northwestern State. The 'Jacks went 16-1 that season when shooting better than 45 percent and, in all, are 38-2 in such games over the last three seasons.
BEAR TRAP: SFA took a 64-49 win at home against Central Arkansas. That moved the 'Jacks to 5-0, all-time, against the Bears and 3-0 in home games. In those three games, UCA has never scored more than 50 points, and the Bears have a combined shooting percentage of .257. In all three games, UCA has been held below 20 points in the first half, including a seven-point first half in last year's meeting.
HOME IS WHERE CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE WON: Over the course of their two Southland Conference championship campaigns in the previous two seasons, the Lumberjacks went 15-1 in home conference games, including a perfect 8-0 record last season. This season, the 'Jacks are out to a 4-0 start in home league games. In all, SFA is 61-24 in Southland games at home in 10 years under head coach Danny Kaspar.
STREAK-STOPPER: SFA's loss at Sam Houston State snapped a streak of eight straight wins against Southland Conference foes. Including three victories at the Southland Tournament last March, the 'Jacks had not lost against a league opponent since a 59-56 defeat at McNeese State on Feb. 14. The Bearkats are also the first Southland Conference West Division team to defeat SFA since UT Arlington knocked off the 'Jacks early in last year's conference slate. SFA had won six straight and 10 of its last 11 games against SLC West foes.
TEN WINS: SFA entered Southland Conference play with double figures in the win column this season for just the second time in the program's tenure at the Division I level. The Lumberjacks' only other 10-win pre-conference slate came in 2007-08, when they went 12-2 before opening league play.
ON THE REBOUND: Junior Jordan Glynn pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds against Texas College. This marks the first time since 1995 for a Lumberjack to grab at least 20 boards. That performance was turned in by Javan Rouzan in an 80-75 win over Baylor. Glynn has posted nine double-doubles and 11 double-figure rebounding games.
STEADY EDDIE: A back injury forced junior guard Eddie Williams to miss SFA's game against Texas College. That marked the first time in his three-year career for Williams to miss action. He had played in all 76 games -- including 32 in each of his first two seasons -- coming into the contest against the Steers. He has now played in 84 total games as a Lumberjack.
ALL-TOURNAMENT: After leading SFA in scoring in both its games at the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, junior guard Eddie Williams was named to the all-tournament team. This marks the third all-tournament team selection in the last two seasons for Williams. He was chosen to the Drake Hy-Vee Classic squad last season and then earned All-SLC Tournament honors in the postseason.
TOURNAMENT TEAM: Following wins over Howard and Binghamton in the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, SFA is 7-1 in four regular-season, tournament-style events over the last two campaigns. The Lumberjacks won two games to capture the Drake Hy-Vee Classic championship last season, then split a pair of contests at the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic. Earlier this season, SFA notched wins over Southern and Cal State Fullerton to win the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic.
HITTIN' A HUNDRED: The Lumberjacks' 102-point outburst against East Central marks SFA's first triple-digit scoring performance in a regulation game since defeating Paul Quinn, 101-48, in the 2005-06 season. In all, SFA has broken 100 points in regulation six times in 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The only Division I opponent to give up triple digits against SFA in that span is Jackson State, who suffered a 103-79 defeat in the 2002-03 campaign. The Lumberjacks' highest-scoring regulation game was a 108-51 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State in the 2003-04 campaign.
BLOCKED UP: Freshman Will Reinke blocked a career-high four shots in SFA's win over East Central. He knocked down three attempts against Texas College. Reinke now has 20 blocks for the season, an average of 1.0 per game, which ranks seventh in the Southland. He has posted seven multi-block games this season. Assuming he can maintain his current pace, Reinke will finish the season among the top six on SFA's Division I-era single-season blocks list.
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 only time in 14 games this season for SFA to lose a game that it led at the break.
DOUBLING UP: Earlier this season, junior forward Jordan Glynn put together a streak never before seen in Danny Kaspar's 10 seasons as head coach at SFA. Finishing with his 20-point, 13-rebound performance against East Central, Glynn posted five straight double-doubles and six consecutive games with at least 10 rebounds. Prior to this season, no other Lumberjack on a Kaspar-coached team had put together more than two consecutive double-digit rebounding efforts.
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 21 games in 2009-10, Lumberjack foes are hitting 35.8 percent from behind the arc. That figure stands 264th out of 334 Division I teams in the country, as ranked by the NCAA through games of Feb. 3.
ROAD-TESTED: SFA finished non-conference play with a 2-2 record in road games with the only losses coming in the season opener against No. 18 Minnesota and at Arkansas. The Lumberjacks 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 opened the 2009-10 season with four first-time opponents on the schedule -- Cal State Fullerton, Longwood, Howard and Binghamton. With two wins at the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, the 'Jacks finished 4-0 against their first-time foes.
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.
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. Including his 20 points at Sam Houston State, Williams has broken the 20-point barrier four times in his career, twice hitting a career-high 25 points last season. Walt Harris has scored 20 or more three this year, hitting 20 against Cal State Fullerton and 22 each at Arkansas and against Nicholls. Junior forward Jordan Glynn scored 20 points against East Central.
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 3-4 this year when trailing at the half. The 'Jacks went just 1-4 in such situations all of last season.
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 2-5 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.
HIGH PERCENTAGE: SFA shot a season-best .585 from the field in its win over Huston-Tillotson. The .585 shooting percentage is SFA's best since shooting .630 in an 82-67 win at Jackson State during the 2007-08 season. The 'Jacks are 11-1 this season when shooting 45 percent or better, including seven wins with a shooting percentage above .500.
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, and the 'Jacks are 53-4, overall, in such games during 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar.
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 10 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.
SAFE AT HOME: In nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 111-28 (.799) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 307-119 (.721) 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.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
FOR THE RECORD: Lamar is 12-11 on the year and 4-4 in Southland Conference play. The Cardinals won two of their first three conference games before losing three straight. But Lamar has won its last two contests to get back to .500 in league play and a tie for third in the Southland West Division. The Cardinals have a 1-9 record on the road but are a very tough 11-2 in home games. Their only home defeat in conference play is a 97-92 overtime loss to Texas State on Jan. 23. Lamar averages 14.5 points per game more at home than on the road.
LAST GAME: Justin Nabors scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his league-leading 11th double-double of the season in a 73-65 Lamar win over Central Arkansas on Wednesday. The Cardinals shot 51 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent at the foul stripe to overcome a 14-2 advantage for the Bears in points off turnovers. Anthony Miles scored 15 points for Lamar, and Charlie Harper added 11 points with seven assists. Mitch Rueter scored 23 points to lead Central Arkansas. The Cardinal reserves outscored Central Arkansas' bench, 17-4.
KEY NUMBERS: Lamar might be the best rebounding team in the Southland Conference. The Cardinals average 39.6 boards per game, just off the mark of 39.7 set by No. 1 Texas State. This despite a pace of play that yields seven fewer possessions per game for Lamar than for Texas State. The Cardinals' plus-5.4 rebounding margin is second only to SFA. Lamar is second in the league in offensive rebounds with 14.0 boards per game and leads the conference with 25.6 rebounds per outing on the defensive end. The Cardinals have attempted more field goals (1,285) than every team in the Southland except Texas State, however, their 300 3-point attempts this season are second-fewest in the conference.
LEADERS: The Cardinals have two players among the league's top 10 scorers. Sophomore guard Anthony Miles leads Lamar and ranks seventh in the conference with 14.3 points per game. Senior forward Justin Nabors is just behind him at 14.2 points per contest. Nabors' 10.0 rebounds per game lead the Southland. Junior center Coy Custer is fourth in the league in blocked shots with 1.7 rejections per game. Miles' 34.8 minutes per game are third in the league.
-- SFA --
