Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana-Monroe
'Jacks Hit the Road for Saturday Showdown at Louisiana-Monroe
12/14/2018 12:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
First of two-straight road games pits 'Jacks against Warhawks for 53rd time
Game Nine
SFA (5-3) at Louisiana-Monroe (4-4)
Saturday, Dec. 15 | 2:00 p.m. | Monroe, La. | Fant-Ewing Coliseum (7,000)
Live Stats | Watch ($) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | ULM Game Notes
Play-by-Play/Analysis | Rob Meyers
THE STARTING FIVE
• Following an eight-day break, the SFA men's basketball team gets back to action Saturday afternoon by taking a road trip to Monroe, La., in order to do battle with Louisiana-Monroe inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum at 2:00 p.m.
• The Saturday afternoon contest will be broadcast locally on Q107.7 in Nacogodches and nationwide on the TuneIn app with longtime Lumberjack play-by-play man Rob Meyers on the call.
• Monday afternoon, senior guard Shannon Bogues claimed the title of Southland Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his collegiate career. The high-scoring guard drilled nine three-pointers and finished with 33 points in SFA's 96-93 overtime loss to Louisiana Tech at home.
• Bogues' nine three-pointers were just two shy of the Southland Conference record of 11. By being named the Southland Conference Player of the Week, Bogues helped SFA claim the last two league Player of the Week citations as junior Kevon Harris claimed the award on Monday, Dec. 3.
• That makes two consecutive seasons in which SFA has won back-to-back Southland Conference Player of the Week awards. Last season, Harris (Dec. 11) and Ivan Canete (Dec. 18) took home the title of league Player of the Week in consecutive weeks.
LOU-EASY-ANA
• Since the 2012-13 season, SFA has put forth an excellent record against foes from the state of Louisiana.
• In that span, the 'Jacks are 36-6 (.857) against opponents from the Pelican State and have never dropped back-to-back games versus Louisiana foes.
BITTEN BY THE BUG
• The injury bug has run rampant through the 'Jacks locker room and currently SFA is playing without a number of its key contributors.
• Through just eight games in 2018-19, the 'Jacks have seen five players miss a combined 28 games due to various injuries and maladies.
• Senior TJ Holyfield will miss the entire season with a shoulder injury while junior guard John Comeaux is listed as week-to-week. Aaron Augustin played in his first game on Tuesday, Dec. 20 after suffering an arm injury in a preseason scrimmage while Comeaux is on the mend from knee surgery last May. Augustin played in four consecutive games before being sidelined due to an illness before the Louisiana Tech game on Friday, Dec. 7. Jovan Grujic has missed the last three games while junior Samuli Nieminen has also sat out the previous five contests.
• Both Augustin and Holyfield were Southland Conference All-Defensive Team members last season. Additionally, the latter was a top-three scorer for SFA in 2017-18 while Augustin was one of two players on SFA's roster with 50 or more steals.
LAST TIME OUT
• Shannon Bogues accumulated a season and game-high 33 points on the strength of a 12-of-18 shooting effort from the field and graduate student Davonte Fitzgerald added a career-high 32 but visiting Louisiana Tech scorched the nets in the second half to force overtime and claim a 96-93 victory over the 'Jacks Friday (Dec. 7) night.
• Friday night's overtime showdown against the Bulldogs marked the first time since Nov. 18, 2014, that an overtime game took place inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. That day, the 'Jacks dropped a hard-fought 79-77 decision to visiting Northern Iowa in a nationally televised tilt on ESPN2.
• By dropping the tilt against Louisiana Tech, SFA has now dropped back-to-back overtime contests at home by a combined five points. Additionally, the 'Jacks saw their record drop to 2-1 in overtime contests in the Kyle Keller coaching era.
• Louisiana Tech did something that few teams have done over the last six seasons by winning inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Bulldogs are only the fifth visiting team since the start of the 2012-13 season to walk out of the facility with a victory in tow. They join Northern Iowa, Lamar, Northwestern State and UAB as the teams who have done so in that time span.
• Despite the loss, SFA's home court winning percentage of .948 still ranks as one of the top three in the nation since the start of the 2012-13 season. Only Arizona - who has gone 101-5 at the McKale Center since 2012-13 for a winning percentage of .953 - owns a better home court winning percentage than the 'Jacks in that span.
• Bogues' high-scoring effort was made possible largely due to his accurate aim from the three-point line. The Killeen, Texas, product went 9-of-15 from long range and tied the program record for three-pointers made in a game in the process. He joins Henry Howard (nine three-pointers against UT-Arlington on Jan. 22, 2000) and Davanzio Carter (nine three-pointers at Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 24, 1998) as the program record holders for three-pointers made in a game.
• The senior's 15 tries from long range were the most by an SFA player in 23 years and tied the program record for three-pointers attempted in a game. Rontrek Floyd set the record by hoisting up 15 shots from long distance at UTSA on Feb. 3, 1996.
• As a team, SFA drilled 15 three-pointers on 33 tries. Those 15 makes from long distance tied the mark for the most in a game in the Kyle Keller coaching era and represent the fourth-most in a game in program history. SFA's 33 tries from downtown were the third-most in a single game in program history and the most since the 'Jacks launched 33 at UTSA on Dec. 17, 2005.
• Bogues' 33-point effort marked the fifth time he accumulated 30 or more points in a Lumberjack uniform. Those five 30-point efforts are the second-most in SFA's NCAA Division I-era history. Only Thomas Walkup (seven games of 30+ points) enjoyed more outings of 30 or more in the 'Jacks' Division I history.
• With a 33-point output from Bogues and a 32-point effort from Fitzgerald, it marked the first time in SFA's NCAA Division I history that two players sprung for 30 or more points in a single game.
• Fitzgerald's 32-point effort marked the first time in his collegiate career that he went for 30 or more points. The Atlanta, Ga., product was able to establish career-highs in field goals made (10), field goals attempted (19), three-pointers made (five), three-pointers attempted (11) and minutes played (40) in the overtime loss.
• SFA led by as many as 13 points in the opening half, taking a 26-13 lead over the Bulldogs on a Fitzgerald three-pointer with 8:43 to go in the opening frame.
• Junior Kevon Harris continued his recent stretch of great performances in the showdown with Louisiana Tech, too. The Ellenwood, Ga., product went for 15 points and eight rebounds and over the last four games Harris is averaging 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds.
• Junior Nathan Bain grabbed a game and season-high nine rebounds in the setback. Those nine rebounds were one shy of Bain's career high and are the second-most in a game by an SFA player this season.
• It was Fitzgerald who forced overtime by tapping in a game-tying put-back with 1.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Between he and Bogues, 69.9-percent of the 'Jacks' point total was represented in the game.
SCOUTING LOUISIANA-MONROE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Saturday's battle with the 'Jacks marks the second of four consecutive home games for the Warhawks. So far in 2018-19, Louisiana-Monroe has gone 2-0 when playing at home and since last season the squad is 14-4 (.778) inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
• The Warhawks possess one of the Sun Belt's best defenses through the early stages of the season. Louisiana-Monroe ranks second in the league in scoring defense giving up just 68 points per game to the opposition. Additionally, the Warhawks rank second in the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense (.380) and third in both field goal percentage defense (.407) and three-point field goal percentage (.380).
• Travis Munnings leads the Warhawks in scoring at a clip of 13.6 points per game and also ranks third in the Sun Belt in minutes per game (34.8). JD Williams (12.5 ppg) and Michael Ertel (11.6 ppg) round out the top three scorers for Louisiana-Monroe.
• In their most recent action, the Warhawks bested Grambling State 72-67 behind 19 points from Daishon Smith and 16 more courtesy of Munnings. Louisiana-Monroe went 25-of-35 from the foul line in that tilt which featured a combined 64 free throw tries from the two teams.
COMING UP NEXT
• Returning to the state of Texas, SFA concludes its two-game road stretch by heading to Waco for a Tuesday night tilt with Baylor. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the Ferrell Center and the game will be broadcast on FOX Sports SW-Alternate.
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