Stephen F. Austin
Central Arkansas
Harris, Fitzgerald Boost 'Jacks to 105-99 Overtime Triumph over Central Arkansas
1/30/2019 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA wins third straight Southland game as Harris resets career highs in scoring and rebounding
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - A quick search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office currently yields no matches for the phrase Cardiac 'Jacks.
After the latest pulse-pounding victory for the SFA men's basketball team, however, the 'Jacks may just see if they can get their hands on that phrase.
Kevon Harris put in a career-high 33 points and completed a double-double with a career-high 16 rebounds, Davonte Fitzgerald added 29 more points and put the SFA men's basketball team on top for good by sinking the last of his five three-pointers halfway through the overtime session as the 'Jacks made it three Southland Conference wins in a row with a wild 105-99 overtime victory over Central Arkansas Wednesday night.
SFA, who hit the century mark for the second time this season and for the first time in a Southland tilt in almost exactly one year, outscored the Bears 18-12 in the extra frame and received 18 points from Shannon Bogues and 10 from Nathan Bain.
FIRST HALF
• Though the head coaches of Central Arkansas and SFA wouldn't want you believe it, defense appeared to be optional through the opening 20 minutes of action. In the frame, the 'Jacks were scorching hot from the field, putting up a shooting split of .548/.500/.778. The Bears weren't too far behind, shooting at clips of .485/.444/.600.
• Davonte Fitzgerald got things going for the hosts, drilling his first three field goals and netting SFA's first 10 points of the Southland showdown.
• While SFA was busy subsisting on a scoring diet consisting mostly of Fitzgerald's buckets, the Bears used a more balanced approach. With SFA up 12-7, DeAndre Jones bookended a 7-0 Central Arkansas run with a long-range hit and a long two that put the Bears ahead 16-12 with 13:34 left in the stanza.
• The Bears remained in front until Kevon Harris drilled the first of his four first-half three-pointers to put SFA back in front 23-22 at the 10:18 mark.
• That Lumberjack lead held up until Jared Chatham started an 12-3 surge by the visitors by sinking his only three-ball of the night with 6:38 to go. Jones canned two more and Matthew Mondesir concluded the run with a fast-break layup that handed the Bears a 40-35 lead with 4:27 to go in the half.
• UCA's largest lead of the game came when a Mondesir free throw put the 'Jacks in a 41-35 hole with 3:50 left in the half. Right after that was just about the time when Harris came alive.
• The junior scored 10 of the last 12 points in the half for SFA, pumping in a pair of three-pointers and adding a runner in the paint that put SFA on top 47-43 with 24 ticks to go in the half.
• Central Arkansas' eight three-pointer of the half came from Eddy Kayouloud with one second to go, however, and made it a one-point game at the break.
SECOND HALF
• Hoping to put the Bears down in regulation, SFA started the half on an 11-5 run that saw Nathan Bain score the team's first six points.
• Fitzgerald ended the 'Jacks' surge with a mid-range jumper that upped the hosts' lead to 58-51 with 14:56 left, but the three-point shooting of Central Arkansas made it impossible for SFA to pull away.
• All six of the Bears' second-half three-pointers came in the final 14:32 of the half. Thatch Unruh swished a pair and Tanner Schmit added one of his own during a 12-5 Central Arkansas surge that knotted things at 63-all with 11:50 left.
• Consecutive long range buckets by Aaron Weidenaar and Jones handed the Bears their first lead of the half, 73-70, with 7:29 left. Armed with a lead for the first time since the opening stanza, the Bears upped it to as many as four points after Jones connected on another downtown shot with 1:27 left.
• Ten seconds later, Bogues pulled SFA within two, 87-85, by draining two free throws with 1:10 left. An inspired defensive possession that resulted in a shot clock violation for the Bears gave the ball back to SFA with 46 seconds left.
• With all eyes on Harris, the junior located Bain underneath the basket and the Freeport, Bahamas, product got a contested layup to fall with 23 seconds left to tie things at 87.
• After Bain's equalizing layup, Bogues came up with a big-time defensive play by delivering a game-saving block on a long range try by Eddy Kayouloud with 2.5 seconds left. Koval misfired on a try as the horn sounded and the teams headed to overtime.
OVERTIME
• Almost exactly like what happened at the start of the game, Fitzgerald laced a three-pointer to hand the home team an early lead. Seraille followed with a put-back slam dunk over UCA's Hayden Koval (listed at 7'0) to keep the 'Jacks' lead at three, but the Bears used the free throw line to gain their only advantage of the extra session.
• Koval and Jones each drilled a pair from the stripe to hand the visitors a 93-92 edge. The former upped the Bears' edge to 95-93 with a put-back layup with 2:12 to go before Fitzgerald put SFA back in front for good.
• The graduate student took a pass from John Comeaux and laced his fifth and final three-pointer of the game with two minutes left. That pushed the hosts ahead 96-95 and Central Arkansas put in just one more field goal the rest of the way.
• Harris scored four of the 'Jacks' last nine points and through the last 1:22 SFA sank seven of its 10 free throw tries to put the game on ice.
• UCA went 1-for-5 from the field through the last two minutes of overtime.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• SFA improved to 1-1 in overtime games this season with its six-point victory. Wednesday night marked the 'Jacks' first overtime showdown in Southland Conference action since Feb. 25, 2017 at - you guessed it, baby - Central Arkansas. SFA also won that one, 90-85.
• With his four three-pointers, Harris now has 112 in his SFA career. That puts him in 10th place all-time on the program's list of most three-pointers made. He needs three more to tie Gerald Fonzie and Davanzio Carter for eighth.
• In addition to being a career-high, Harris' 33 points tied the mark for the most in a game by an SFA player this season. His 16 rebounds were the most for a Lumberjack since March 2, 2017, when TJ Holyfield hauled down 16 in a home setback to Northwestern State.
• Bain tied his career-high in scoring by putting in 10 points.
• SFA finished +12 (42-30) over Central Arkansas in points in the paint.
• The 'Jacks went 24-of-33 (.727) at the free throw stripe compared to a 23-of-35 (.657) showing by Central Arkansas. Both the 'Jacks' total number of free throws made and free throws attempted were season-highs.
• SFA upped its lead in the all-time series against Central Arkansas to 19-1 (.950) with Wednesday night's win. Central Arkansas is 0-10 all-time in Nacogdoches.
• SFA's 105 points represented the team's most in a Southland Conference game since scoring 109 on January 13, 2015 against - yes - Central Arkansas.
COMING UP NEXT
• At 7:00 p.m. Saturday night, two of the Southland's oldest rivals engage in yet another clash deep within the Piney Woods as the 'Jacks pay aa visit to Huntsville, Texas, to tangle with Sam Houston State. The Bearkats currently sit atop the Southland standings and ESPN3 and the ESPN app will air the showdown nationwide.
-SFA-
