Stephen F. Austin
22-5 (11-3SLC)
Incarnate Word
5-19 (0-14SLC)
'Jacks' Big Three of Bogues, Gilmore III and Harris Help SFA Claim 81-70 Win at UIW
2/17/2018 6:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA trio totals 63 of SFA's 81 points in fourth-straight win
SAN ANTONIO - For years, the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs relied heavily on the big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili - a trio who anchored no fewer than four title runs for the squad.
In the Alamo City Saturday afternoon, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team unleashed its own big three to keep the squad's 2017-18 Southland Conference title hopes intact.
Sparked by the trio of Shannon Bogues, Leon Gilmore III and Kevon Harris, who combined for over three-quarters of the 'Jacks' offense, SFA held off a feisty Incarnate Word squad, 81-70, inside the McDermott Convocation Center Saturday afternoon.
Putting forth his finest effort of the 2017-18 campaign, Gilmore III tied his career-high by pouring in a team-high 22 points and completed his third double-double of the year by ripping down a game-high 11 rebounds.
For the first time in one month, Harris exceeded the 20-point barrier as the sophomore put in 22 on an identical mark from the field as Gilmore III - 7-of-13. Shannon Bogues added 19 on 6-of-11 shooting off the bench and the 'Jacks would need all of those point to hold off the Cardinals who, after manufacturing only 21 points in the first half, erupted for 50 on 51.6-percent shooting through the final 20 minutes of action.
"We didn't have a great beginning to the second half and we gave up a couple of open three-pointers which helped them get their momentum going," said SFA head coach Kyle Keller who picked up his first road win over Incarnate Word. "On the defensive end we had some frustration in us and UIW took advantage and kept on attacking."
Junior TJ Holyfield got the 'Jacks started with a put-back layup 2:20 into the game before the Cardinals used a Shawn Johnson three-pointer just to take their only lead of the game fifteen second later.
Most of the 'Jacks' first-half damage on offense was done by the trio of Gilmore III, Harris and Holyfield who finished with 29 of the team's 39 markers in the opening frame. As a matter of fact, Harris had just as many field goals (four) in the first half as Incarnate Word did as the 'Jacks' defense held their San Antonio foes to a 4-of-18 shooting clip (22.2-percent) in the opening half.
Forcing 10 turnovers in the first frame, SFA made the Cardinals suffer through field goal droughts of 7:13 and 5:24 during the opening half. Ten of Incarnate Word's points in the half came at the foul line and at the end of the frame the 'Jacks owned a 39-20 edge.
Through the first fifty-percent of the final half, the 'Jacks sizable lead lessened at a rapid pace as the Cardinals started to can shots. All of Incarnate Word's offensive deficiencies in the first half faded away after Sam Burmeister started an 11-0 run by the home squad by splashing a pair of three-pointers in the opening minute of the stanza.
Harris put an end to that run by drilling a three-pointer, but the Cardinals were not even close to being done. All of the UIW's points during an 11-3 run by the home team that trimmed the 'Jacks' edge to 50-44 with 11:34 left came off the hands of Shawn Johnson before Bogues countered with a well-timed burst of offense.
The hot-shooting junior netted 14-straight points for the 'Jacks, pushing the visitors' lead back to double-digits, 61-48, with 7:26 remaining. From there, SFA's lead never dipped below 10 points Gilmore III put in 11 of the 'Jacks' final 15 points to keep the Cardinals without a Southland Conference victory.
Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting for the Cardinals while Burmeister added 18. That duo produced nine of UIW's 10 three-pointers but no other Cardinal posted more than eight points.
Sophomore Aaron Augustin led an inspired defensive effort by the 'Jacks, finishing with two points, four rebounds, four assists and five of SFA's 11 steals in the team's fourth-straight victory.
In all, SFA notched 21 points off of UIW's 19 turnovers to move to 8-1 all-time against the Cardinals.
For the remainder of February, the 'Jacks will not leave the city of Nacogdoches. Just four regular season games remain for SFA and the first three of those tilts will happen inside William R. Johnson Coliseum beginning with Wednesday's 7:00 p.m. Southland Conference showdown with Central Arkansas.
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