Stephen F. Austin
13-12
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
11-15
Bogues Inches Closer to 1,000-Point Mark, Nets 17 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
2/20/2019 9:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
'Jacks battle back from 17 down, tie things up twice in second half
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Trailing 17-0 through the first 6:37 of the game, the SFA men's basketball team staged a furious comeback and managed to tie the game on two occasions in the second half before succumbing to another late run by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a 65-55 setback to the Islanders Wednesday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
With the loss, SFA remains in sixth place in the Southland Conference standings with five regular season games remaining but is tied with two other teams - the Islanders and Houston Baptist - in that spot. Central Arkansas sits just one game back of that group of teams in ninth place.
FIRST HALF
• Things, to put it mildly, did not go the 'Jacks' way through the opening seven minutes of that game. In that span, Kareem South nailed a trio of three-pointers and had 11 points for the Islanders who started the game on a 17-0 run.
• Finally, with a pair of free throw swishes from Nathan Bain with 13:23 left in the frame, the 'Jacks stopped that one-sided surge. Bain's two makes at the foul line represented the starting point of a 15-2 run by the hosts who misfired on their first 10 tries from the field before finding their footing on offense.
• During that run that cut the Islanders' lead to 19-15, Shannon Bogues slung in seven points while Kevon Harris and Oddyst Walker each drilled a three-pointer. SFA's scoring spree spanned 4:24 before Elijah Schmidt halted it with a layup at the 8:34 mark to put the Islanders up 21-15.
• The Islanders' lead increased to double-digits once again when Tony Lewis drilled a pair of free throw with 4:11 left that made matters 27-17. From there, however, SFA made another push to draw closer at the break.
• Harris connected on another three-pointer while Bain, Bogues and John Comeaux combined to put in four free throws during the final 4:10 to help the 'Jacks cut the Islanders' lead to 27-24 at the break.
SECOND HALF
• Wasting little time in striking first once the deciding frame started, the Islanders got another layup from South less than one minute in to push their edge back to five.
• Emmanuel Toney connected on a three-pointer that helped the visitors maintain a 36-32 lead with 13:52 left before SFA tied things up for the first time. Harris hit two free throws and Bogues found Jovan Grujic wide open for a layup that knotted matters at 36 with 13:39 to go.
• The Islanders and 'Jacks then exchanged 5-0 runs with Comeaux's lone three-pointer providing the game's last deadlock, 41-41, with 10:20 left.
• Right after Comeaux's long ball, however, SFA was held without a field goal for two minutes. In that time, Tre Gray swished a three-pointer to start a 5-0 Islander surge that put SFA in a 46-41 hole with 9:20 left.
• Harris bullied his way to the tin for a layup that trimmed the Islanders' edge to 46-44 with 8:15 left but again the visitors had a response. South capped an 8-0 run by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by draining a three-pointer that pushed the visitors' lead to 54-44 with 5:25 left.
• The Islanders' lead dipped below 10 points just one other time on the night. That came when Bogues converted two free throw tries with 4:34 left the pulled SFA within eight, 54-46.
• Another three-pointer by Tre Gray capped another 5-0 spurt from the visitors and handed them their largest lead of the second half, 59-46.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Bogues put in a team-high 17 points while Harris added 14 to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. No other SFA player finished with more than seven points.
• South was a one-man wrecking crew for the Islanders, pumping in a game-high 29 points and completing a double-double effort with a game-best 12 rebounds.
• Emmanuel Toney added 12 points and a game-high six assists for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi who won in Nacogdoches for the first time since January 29, 2011.
• With his 17 points, Bogues now needs just 23 more to get to 1,000 for his career.
COMING UP NEXT
• Now in a tie for seventh place in the league standings, the 'Jacks play their final home game in the month of February Saturday afternoon. At 4:30 p.m., SFA tangles with Incarnate Word inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+.
-SFA-
