Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State
`Jacks Blast Sam Houston
1/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2011
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Stephen F. Austin shot almost 60 percent from the field and held Sam Houston State without a 3-pointer Wednesday night to roll to a 63-49 win in Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. The win is SFA's first in Huntsville since the 2003-04 season and marks just the second Lumberjack road win against the Bearkats in 11 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar.
A pivotal match-up in Southland Conference play, the victory boosts SFA to 3-2 in league action and 12-5 on the season. Sam Houston dropped its third straight game to fall to 9-10 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
Led by a strong performance on the perimeter, the Lumberjacks shot 59.5 percent from the floor and connected on four of their eight 3-point attempts. Freshman point guard, Darius Gardner, making his third start in place of injured senior Denzel Barnes, went 4-for-7 from the field for a career-best 15 points and added seven assists. Sophomore shooting guard Antonio Bostic added 13 points, also a career-high, and senior Eddie Williams was 2-for-3 from distance for 13 points.
Jereal Scott provided the inside game, as SFA matched Sam Houston with 26 points in the paint. Scott was 7-for-8 from the field for 14 points in his first starting appearance in three contests. He had been playing limited minutes to rest a sore knee.
Sam Houston seized command early behind 10 points from Gilberto Clavell in the first eight minutes. But the senior forward picked up his second foul with 9:02 to play and spend the remainder of the first half on the bench.
SFA took advantage, outscoring the Bearkats, 19-5, down the stretch to take a 33-23 lead to the halftime break. Bostic and Williams each had 11 points at the half.
The `Jacks got a layup by Scott on their first possession of the second period and a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer from Gardner on the next touch to push their advantage to 15. The closest the Bearkats would get after that was 12, despite 16 second-half points from Clavell.
No other Sam Houston player reached double digits, and the Bearkats went 0-for-11 from 3-point range.
SFA turned the ball over 19 times, but made the most of Sam Houston's 17 turnovers, outscoring the Bearkats, 23-10, in points off turnovers.
The `Jacks outrebounded Sam Houston, 26-20, behind seven rebounds from Scott and six from senior Jordan Glynn.
SFA will return to action Saturday, when the Lumberjacks host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The game against the Islanders is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
-- SFA --
