Stephen F. Austin
19-5, 8-3
McNeese
8-13, 5-6
Three-Pointer Barrage Helps 'Jacks Hang on for 99-95 Victory at McNeese
2/8/2018 10:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bogues and Harris finish with 18 each for SFA as 'Jacks drill 15 triples
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Less than 48 hours into the year 2017 - and inside Burton Coliseum - the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team suffered through its most inaccurate shooting performance of the entire 2016-17 campaign. In the process, the 'Jacks watched McNeese put an end to its nation-leading 26-game Southland Conference winning streak.
Thursday night, in the exact same building and on the exact same floor that caused the 'Jacks so much anguish, SFA suffered from no such difficulties on offense.
It was a good thing, too, because McNeese didn't either.
Up by as many as 25 points on two occasions and in possession of a 20-point edge with 6:04 to go, SFA had to hang on for a wild 99-95 triumph over McNeese after the Cowboys outscored the 'Jacks 32-13 through that final span.
With defense seemingly a secondary concern for both teams, the 'Jacks never trailed and shot 53-percent (35-of-66), slightly edging the Cowboys' shooting percentage of 52.5-percent (32-of-61). Another huge component of SFA's win was its accurate long-range shooting.
Shelling the Cowboys with a merciless barrage of downtown hits, the 'Jacks finished the game with an impressive 60-percent clip from three-point land. In all, SFA drilled 15 triples - the fourth-most in a single game in program history and the most in head coach Kyle Keller's tenure as head coach.
"It's hard to be competitive for 40 minutes, especially when you're just making shots," commented Keller following the game. "When you make all those shots and the basket looks so big sometimes you forget about the small things like why the ball went in in the first place. It went in because we played for each other."
The most lethal three-point bomber for the 'Jacks was junior Shannon Bogues who racked up a team-high 18 points on the strength of a 4-of-5 showing from beyond the arc. Playing in his first game since Jan. 27 against Sam Houston State, sophomore Kevon Harris returned to SFA's lineup and turned in an 18-point performance, too.
Bogues and Harris were two of the five 'Jacks who finished with 12 or more points in the win. Leon Gilmore III submitted a 14-point, 10-rebounds double-double - his second of the season - while Aaron Augustin put in a career-high 13 points. TJ Holyfield finished with 12 and both of SFA's blocked shots in the win.
Putting on a shooting show the likes of which they hadn't done all season, the 'Jacks came out unafraid to fire away from long range in the opening half. Augustin fed Holyfield for an alley-oop slam that put the visitors up 12-5 before the Cowboys scored the next seven to bring about the only tie of the game (12-12) with 13:31 to go in the opening frame.
Following that brief run by the Cowboys, it was all SFA the rest of the half. Unloading on McNeese from downtown, SFA made a mockery of the Cowboys' three-point field goal defense which ranked second in the Southland Conference coming into the game. In the first 20 minutes, the 'Jacks went 11-of-13 - an eye-popping 84.6-percent - from three-point range and carried a 56-32 lead into the locker room at the half as a result.
"Our team hadn't been ahead at the half like that since Christmas - about six weeks ago," continued Keller. "At that point the challenge to them becomes how well we can play with a lead like that. Outside of the last six minutes, we did a pretty decent job at doing it."
The 'Jacks' lead fluctuated between 25 and 17 points until Kalob Ledoux finished off a three-point play with a free throw make that trimmed the Cowboys' deficit to 16, 85-69, with 4:54 left.
Through the game's final 5:32, the 'Jacks mustered only two field goals and watched the Cowboys claw their way back into it thanks to the play of James Harvey, Jarren Greenwood, Quatarrius Wilson and Jacob Ledoux. Harvey connected on a pair three-pointers before Wilson put in four-straight points for McNeese - including a two-handed slam which cut SFA's lead to 99-92 with 14 seconds to go.
Another reason why the 'Jacks allowed the Cowboys to get so close was because of an ill-timed stretch of inaccuracy from the foul line. SFA missed seven of its eight free throws in the game's final 27 seconds and although Jacob Ledoux's 30-foot three-pointer fell in with seven seconds left, the 'Jacks - thankfully - still led by four and left the Cowboys with just 3.3 seconds to work with after Harris missed a pair at the line. Jacob Ledoux's final three-point try fell short, and kept the 'Jacks just one game back of Nicholls for the top spot in the Southland Conference.
Harvey hit seven of his 11 three-point tries for the Cowboys and finished with a game-high 23 points. Greenwood added 21 - seven of which came off of free throws- and Wilson posted a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double for McNeese in the loss. Jacob Ledoux (16) and Kalob Kedoux (14) combined for 30 for the Cowboys, too.
Only seven games remain in the 'Jacks' regular season schedule and of those four will be played inside the walls of William R. Johnson Coliseum. One of those four is set to tip off at 6:00 p.m. Saturday evening when the 'Jacks welcome longtime Louisiana rival Northwestern State to Nacogdoches. The Demons, who have lost 15-straight games, are one of two Southland Conference teams who have yet to win a league game in 2017-18.
-SFA-
