Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
'Jacks Put Five-Game Win Streak on the Line Saturday Against Lamar
2/23/2018 5:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA aims to avenge early February loss to Cardinals in Beaumont
Stephen F. Austin (23-5, 12-3 Southland) vs. Lamar (18-11, 10-6 Southland)
Saturday, Feb. 24 | 6:00 p.m. | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | Lamar Game Notes
OPENING TIPS
• Two wins away from its fifth season of 25 or more triumphs in the past six and just one game back of the top spot in the Southland Conference standings, the Stephen F. Austin basketball team hits the midpoint of its three-game home stand by welcoming Lamar to William R. Johnson Coliseum Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.
• Installment number 64 of the all-time series between the 'Jacks and Cardinals is presented by Nacogdoches Memorial Health with each and every second of the action set to be broadcast nationwide on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. Rob Meyers, longtime voice of the Lumberjacks, will deliver his play-by-play and analysis of the game both on the video stream and on Learfield's Lumberjack Sports Network (Q107.7 FM in Nacogdoches, worldwide on the TuneIn app).
• One of the nation's finest defensive teams, the 'Jacks have a great chance to make some defensive history Saturday night. SFA needs nine more steals to break the single-season program record of 311 set by the 'Jacks' 2015-16 squad. Nine steals would be a little less than the team's nation-leading average of 10.7 this season.
• Down to three games remaining in their regular season schedule, the 'Jacks are tied for second place in the Southland Conference standings with Southeastern Louisiana. Both squads trail league-leading Nicholls by one game.
• Only 14 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams have more wins than the 23 SFA has piled up so far in 2017-18. Those 23 wins are the most by an NCAA Division I squad in the state of Texas this season, too.
• The 'Jacks are unbeaten inside William R. Johnson Coliseum this season and over their last 16 games. That's the nation's third-longest active home court winning streak and SFA's home court record of 86-3 (.966) since 2012-13 is the best in the land.
• For the second time in as many games, an SFA player has a chance to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Senior Ty Charles is 14 points away from reaching an even 1,000 in his career. Should he do so, it would make him the 30th player in program history to get to 1,000 points.
• SFA's offense has been scorching hot over the last five games - all 'Jack wins - averaging 92.2 points on 54.2-percent shooting from the field and 50.5-percent shooting from long range in that span.
SCOUTING LAMAR | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Winners of five of their last six games - a stretch that started with a 76-54 victory over SFA in Beaumont back on Feb. 3 - the Cardinals have locked up a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament and are only two wins away from their first 20-win campaign since 2011-12. Currently Lamar sits in sixth place in the league standings and owns a two-game lead over Abilene Christian and Central Arkansas who are tied for seventh. Additionally, Lamar is just one game out of fifth and two games out of fourth.
• No team in the Southland - and few in the nation - spend as much time at the free throw line as Lamar does. The Cardinals have attempted 687 free throws through 29 games this season which is the most among all Southland squads and the 13th-most in the land. Of those, 687, the Cardinals have hit 457, making free throws 20.3-percent of their 2017-18 point total.
• Following a 2016-17 campaign in which he earned a spot on the All-Southland Conference First Team, senior forward Colton Weisbrod has done anything but take a step back during his final season of college basketball. One of three players in the Southland who ranks among the league's top ten in scoring and rebounding, Weisbrod is averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. In his four matchups with SFA, however, he averages just 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per tilt.
• Lamar owns the distinction of being the only team in the Southland to boast two players who rank among the top five in rebounding. In addition to Weisbrod, the Cardinals also have junior Josh Nzeakor who ranks second on the team and sixth in the league with 7.4 rebounds per game. Nzeakor and Weisbrod have combined to produce 16 double-doubles so far this season.
• The most dangerous outside threat the Cardinals have on their side, Nick Garth has drilled 68 triples thus far in 2017-18 - the most on the team. Garth is shooting 38.6-percent from long range and also leads Lamar in attempts (176). At 13.2 points per game, he's also the Cardinals' second-leading scorer and ranks seventh in the Southland with 2.3 long-range makes per game.
• Much like SFA, Lamar prides itself on bringing a strong defensive effort to the court on a nightly basis. The Cardinals force 17.1 opponent turnovers per game, good for eighth in the nation and are among the land's leaders in both total steals and steals per game, too. Lamar's 259 total thefts are the sixth-most in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball and the Cardinals' 8.9 steals per game is the seventh-best average in the nation.
LAST TIME OUT
• Matched up against one of the nation's most potent offenses, all the 'Jacks did was shut it down inside William R. Johnson Coliseum Wednesday night, holding Central Arkansas to its lowest point total in over one year in a 97-62 romp over the Bears.
• Junior TJ Holyfield netted only six points on the night, but his first bucket of the game pushed him over the 1,000-point mark for his career. The Albuquerque, N.M., product became the 29th player in SFA history to amass 1,000 career points and is now in an exclusive club of only 13 players to have 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in an SFA uniform. Other players on that list include Thomas Walkup, Josh Alexander, Matt Kingsley, Jereal Scott, Pete Harris, and Surry Oliver.
• In all, five Lumberjacks totaled 10 or more points in the rout. That quintet was led by junior scoring machine Shannon Bogues who pumped in a team-high 18 on 6-of-10 shooting.
• Bogues drilled 80-percent (4-of-5) of his three-pointers and finished the game as the team's assist leader, too. The Killeen, Texas, product racked up five of the 'Jacks' 22 helpers, tying his career high in the process.
• In his first game back after sitting out the previous two due to an ankle sprain, senior Ivan Canete finished with 10 points on 50-percent (4-of-8) shooting in just 20 minutes of action. No SFA player registered more than 25 minutes of playing time and all but one player wound up putting in points.
• Central Arkansas owned a 14-7 lead over the 'Jacks a with 14:56 to go in the first half before the 'Jacks went on a big-time scoring binge to jump ahead for good. Over the next 6:25, SFA took off on a 22-1 run to turn its seven-point deficit into a 14-point lead (29-15) with 8:31 left in the frame.
• Leon Gilmore III added 17 points for the 'Jacks on 8-of-10 shooting. Over the last five games, Gilmore III has been a much larger part of SFA's offense than earlier in the year. In that time, the Houston, Texas, product has put in 13.2 points per game on 60.5-percent (26-of-43) shooting from the field. During that same stretch, he is also the team's leading rebounder at 7.2 per game.
• Thanks to his 80-percent shooting night in SFA's win over the Bears, Gilmore III upped his field goal percentage in 2017-18 to 50.8-percent - the 15th-highest in the Southland Conference.
• Sophomore Aaron Augustin tied his career high by grabbing seven rebounds in the 'Jacks' win. He was one of three players (Ty Charles and Leon Gilmore III were the others) who tied for team-high rebounding honors.
• For the first time since January 3, junior John Comeaux turned in a double-digit scoring performance. The Beaumont, Texas, product finished with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go along with a game-high four steals.
• The only detraction that could be made for the 'Jacks in the rout was the team's accuracy at the free throw line. SFA converted a season-low 50-percent (12-of-24) of its tries from the charity stripe.
• At the end of the night, the 'Jacks held Central Arkansas over 20 points below its season average and although Bears' senior Jordan Howard finished with a game-high 19 points it took him 18 field goal tries to get to that point total.
• With the win, SFA maintained its status as the nation's most dominant team in conference play since 2012-13. Since that season the 'Jacks have gone 93-12 in Southland Conference play, good for a nation-leading win percentage of .886 in that span. The only team in the land that is close to having the same in-confernece winning percentage as SFA in that span is Wichita State who has gone 92-13 (.876) in league games since 2012-13.
• Below is a full breakdown of where Stephen F. Austin's points came from in its home win over Central Arkansas:
Two-pointers | 53.6% (52-97)
Three-pointers | 34.0% (33-97)
Free throws | 12.4% (12-97)
Points in the paint | 47.4% (46-97)
Points off turnovers | 26.8% (26-97)
Second chance points | 16.5% (16-97)
Fast break points | 22.8% (22-97)
Starters points | 46.4% (45-97)
Bench Points | 53.6% (52-97)
BOGUES IN BUNCHES
• With another double-digit scoring performance, junior Shannon Bogues has taken over as the 'Jacks' leading scorer. Bogues ranks sixth in the Southland Conference in scoring at 16.2 points per game and also owns the distinction of being one of the highest-scoring bench players in the nation.
• UTSA's Jhivian Jackson (18.9 ppg, 28 games, nine starts) is the only NCAA Division I player in the nation that has exceeded Bogues' scoring average as a bench player.
• Over his last five games, Bogues has taken his offense to another level. In that span, the junior is averaging a team-best 24.4 points per game on 66.7-percent (40-of-60) field goal shooting. Included in that field goal percentage is an otherworldly 71.9-percent (23-of-32) mark from three-point land which is the best in the nation over the last five games.
FOLLOW THE LEADERS
• SFA leads the Southland Conference in nine separate statistical categories including field goal percentage (49.7-percent, 16th nationally), free throws made (469, 32nd nationally), scoring margin (+13.5, 11th nationally), steals per game (10.7, first nationally), three-point field goal percentage (38.1-percent, 54th nationally), total steals (302, first nationally), turnover margin (+4.9, sixth nationally), turnovers forced per game (20.79, first nationally) and win percentage (82.1, 14th nationally).
• TJ Holyfield ranks fourth in the Southland in field goal percentage (55.6-percent) while Aaron Augustin is second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).
STEAL THE SHOW
• With 127 steals in his career, senior Ty Charles has moved up to seventh in program history.
• In what will be the final appearance inside William R. Johnson Coliseum for three SFA seniors - Ivan Canete, Ty Charles and Leon Gilmore III - the 'Jacks close out their three-game home stand Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. by hosting Southland Conference foe Abilene Christian. The game is also the 'Jacks' penultimate tilt of the regular season and the first meeting between SFA and ACU in Nacogdoches since January of 2016.
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