Johnson's Double-Double Not Enough for 'Jacks in Battle of Southland's Best

Wednesday, January 27

Abilene, TX

8:00 PM

Stephen F. Austin

9-3,5-1Southland

Abilene Christian University

13-3,5-1Southland

SFA

Abilene Christian

Johnson's Double-Double Not Enough for 'Jacks in Battle of Southland's Best

1/27/2021 10:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ABILENE, Texas -- The SFA men's basketball team squared off with another top Southland Conference team inside the Teague Center in Abilene on Wednesday night, coming away with a tough result in the form of an 82-62 setback at the hands of the 'Cats. The Lumberjacks trailed by just one point at the halftime intermission but were outscored 46-27 in the second half by the hosts and drop to 9-3 (5-1 SLC) as a result.

HOW IT HAPPENED
A hard fought opening half of play saw the Wildcats open the game's scoring and neither team being able to open up a lead larger than three points for much of the early going. After an ACU jumper gave them a narrow 23-21 lead with 9:37 left to play, the 'Jacks would hold the hosts without a field goal for the remainder of the half, but a whistle heavy game meant the Wildcats were able to add 13 more points in the half entirely off of free throws, including one with 1:26 left in the half to send them into the break with a 37-36 lead.

SFA looked promising coming out the break, twice opening up a five-point lead on the hosts within the opening six minutes of the second half, but the game trended away from the Lumberjacks after that. A 10-2 run opened up an eight-point lead for ACU, and a layup by Roti Ware wasn't enough to stem the bleeding as the home side extended the lead into double digits and didn't let it get back to single digits for the remainder of the game. The 'Jacks would end up being outscored 46-27 in the half, shooting just 40 percent from the field in the stanza and committing 13 second-half turnovers.

LEADERS
Cameron Johnson led the 'Jacks with 13 points and also hauled down 15 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Ware, Calvin Solomon and Gavin Kensmil each finished in double-digits for the 'Jacks as well.

KEY NUMBERS
Wednesday's game was marred by a combined 44 personal fouls, leading to 29 free throw attempts for the hosts and 25 by the visitors. ACU shot 82 percent (24-29) at the line compared to just 56 percent (14-25) by SFA. Abilene Christian also forced 23 Lumberjack turnovers and scored 19 points off those turnovers.