Hot Start Fuels ‘Jacks in Friday Night Win over Arkansas State

Friday, November 7

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:00 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

2-0,0-0Southland

Arkansas State

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Arkansas St.

SFA

Hot Start Fuels ‘Jacks in Friday Night Win over Arkansas State

11/7/2025 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SFA knocks off Sun Belt Conference Preseason No. 2 in dominant display

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin (2-0) never trailed on Friday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum as the Lumberjacks used a hot start, a tough effort inside throughout and a pesky presence along the perimeter to run past Arkansas State (1-1) 90-65.

SFA used a 12-0 run over the opening 2:30 of play to shell shock the Red Wolves behind a suffocating effort defensively, an and-1 from Chrishawn Christmas and two Kameron Burton triple tries.

The Red Wolves moved as close as five points of the SFA advantage over the first ten minutes of play, but Keon Thompson drove inside for a finish off glass to give the 'Jacks a 30-13 lead and then moments later hit a three-pointer to increase the lead back to 17 with 8:17 to play before the intermission.

Glass control was a key to the victory as Christmas grabbed ten total rebounds with seven on the offensive end and Jerald Colonel followed with six of his 11 resulting in new possessions. The 'Jacks outrebounded the Red Wolves 49-30 finishing +9 in offensive boards.

The first-half lead grew to 22 points before settling at 15 at the break. The 'Jacks used 17 of Thompson's 26, were +10 in points off turnovers and shot 50% from the floor with seven made threes in 15 attempts during the opening 20 minutes.

Thompson converted another driving attempt to the basket to push SFA's lead out to 23 points just under five minutes into the second half, but the Red Wolves manufactured their run over the next four and a half minutes as the visitors utilized a 15-4 stretch to pull within a dozen at 62-50 with 10:51 remaining.

Lateef Patrick Jr. hammered a deep three ball from the bottom of the "A" and on the next possession Colonel slammed to keep the advantage at 15. Thirteen points is a close as the Sun Belt foe would get down the stretch as Thompson completed an old fashioned three-point play seconds out of the under-8 media timeout. SFA used a trio of timely threes, two from the trigger of Narit Chotikavanic (5:21, +18; 3:25, +20) and another one from Patrick (2:29, +22) to put the game on ice.

POSTGAME NOTES

Thompson delivered a second-straight 20-point performance with a game-high 26 on 11-of-17 shooting to go along with seven assists, five rebounds and a steal
Patrick added 17 points on 50% shooting with two threes
Chotikavanic delivered 14 points with four makes from beyond-the-arc
Colonel produced 11 rebounds and five blocks to go along with nine points
SFA held the Red Wolves to without a field goal over the final 6:19 of play
ASU shot just 18.5% (5-for-27) from three-point range
The 'Jacks finished +14 in paint points, +8 in points off turnovers and +15 in second chance points

ABOUT THE WIN

The series history moves to 3-1 in favor of SFA as the 'Jacks avenged a ten-point loss to the Red Wolves last year in Jonesboro
SFA has scored 193 points in two games to open the season marking the most through two contests to a begin a campaign since 2010-11 when the 'Jacks scored 194 points in the first two games

UP NEXT
SFA hits the road next week for a Tuesday night matchup against Rice. Tip-off for the in-state tilt from inside Tudor Fieldhouse is set for 7 p.m. and the action will stream on ESPN+. The 'Jacks and the Owls meet for the 20th time and for the first time since 2017. The home team has won the last eight matchups, a streak that dates to 1953. The first matchup took place in Nacogdoches in 1933 with SFA winning 36-24. The Lumberjacks lead the all-time series 12-7. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.

#AxeEm x #WinTogether

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