Stephen F. Austin
Central Arkansas
SFA Seeks to Strengthen Southland Conference Tournament Chances Wednesday at Central Arkansas
2/26/2019 6:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
'Jacks sit in sixth place in league standings, one game ahead of Houston Baptist and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Game Twenty-Seven
SFA (14-12, 7-7 Southland) at Central Arkansas (10-17, 5-9 Southland)
Wednesday, Feb. 26 | Farris Center (5,500) | Conway, Ark.
Tickets | Watch (Southland Digital Network) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | Live Stats | SFA Game Notes | UCA Game Notes
THE OPENING TIP
• With only four Southland Conference games remaining on its regular season schedule, the SFA men's basketball team sets off on a pivotal road trip to Conway, Ark., in the hopes of strengthening its seeding for the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament. Wednesday night inside the Farris Center, the 'Jacks do battle with Central Arkansas at 7:00 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast nationwide on the Southland Digital Network.
• As it stands currently, the 'Jacks occupy the sixth-place position in the Southland standings. That puts SFA one full game ahead of both Houston Baptist and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi who are tied for seventh place. Central Arkansas, meanwhile, sits two games back of the 'Jacks for ninth place.
• After an 18-point outing against Incarnate Word last Saturday inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, senior guard Shannon Bogues needs only five more points to become the 32nd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Should he get there Wednesday night, he'd become the second Lumberjack this season to hit the 1,000-point mark.
• Bogues ranks third in the Southland in scoring at a clip of 17.5 points per game. Junior Kevon Harris leads the 13-team league in scoring with 18.2 points per game. In league-only games, Harris is pouring in points at a rate of 21.6 per game.
LAST TIME OUT
• Firing up the 'Jacks' home congregation with each shot he made, junior Rance Cole enjoyed the game of his collegiate career so far by pumping in a career-high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting to help lead SFA past Incarnate Word 81-54 last Saturday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
• Cole, a walk-on from Coldspring, Texas, nailed a pair of three-pointers in the win to go along with a career-best three steals.
• The 'Jacks' 27-point margin of victory was the team's second double-digit victory in Southland play this season as well as its largest in a Southland Conference regular season game since torching Central Arkansas 97-62 in Nacogdoches on Feb. 21, 2018.
• Kevon Harris poured in a game-high 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Shannon Bogues put in 18. Harris' 20-point outing was his 10th game of 20 or more this season which is the most by an SFA player since Thomas Walkup had 11 games of 20+ in the 2015-16 campaign.
• With his 18 points, Bogues upped his streak of double-digit scoring outings to 27 in a row. That stretch dates back to SFA's final game of the 2017-18 season - an NCAA Tournament opening-round showdown with Texas Tech - and is the second-lengthiest streak in SFA's NCAA-era history.
• Freshman Mitchell Seraille showed out, too, contributing 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. It was Seraille's second double-digit scoring effort of the 2018-19 campaign and his first in a Southland Conference game.
• SFA improved to 10-1 all-time against Incarnate Word and upped its record over the Cardinals in the Coliseum to 6-0 all-time.
SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Beginning with a 79-56 setback at Abilene Christian on January 26, the Bears have lost seven in a row. That seven game skid came after UCA won five of its first seven Southland Conference showdowns of the 2018-19 campaign and throughout the last seven games the Bears have been outscored a combined 597-500 with their average margin of loss coming by 13.9 points.
• Currently the Bears sit in ninth place in the Southland standings, just one game back of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist who are in a tie for seventh place. Two of the Bears' final four games of the regular season and another two are on the road as they seek a second-straight Southland Conference Tournament berth.
• One half of the Bears' effective inside-outside combination is sophomore Hayden Koval. A strong defensive presence, Koval blocks shots at a rate of 2.07 per game which is the 32nd best average across all NCAA Division I men's basketball. Koval is tied for the team lead in scoring with his clip of 12.5 points per game.
• Complimenting Koval is second-year man DeAndre Jones who also pumps in points at a rate of 12.5 per game. Not only is the guard a legitimate three-point threat (49-of-124, 39.5-percent) but he is a fine defender and an adroit passer. He ranks third in the Southland with 4.7 assists per game while his steals per game average of 2.00 is the third-highest in the league and 44th-best in the land.
• The third member of the Bears' primary scoring trio is long-range specialist Thatch Unruh. The senior leads Central Arkansas in scoring in Southland play, putting in points at a rate of 13.4 per game. In league games, he has connected on 28 three-pointers which is the most on the team.
COMING UP NEXT
• Continuing a stretch of three consecutive road games, the 'Jacks head to Beaumont, Texas, Saturday afternoon for another Southland Conference showdown. SFA and Lamar are set to duke it out in the Montagne Center at 4:30 p.m. ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream the contest nationwide.
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