Jacks Use Three, Late Stripe Trips to Shelve Lamar on Saturday

Saturday, January 24

Beaumont, Texas

3:00 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

17-3,10-1Southland

Lamar

10-10,5-6Southland

SFA

Lamar University

Keon Thompson at Southeastern Louisiana (1-3-26)

Photo by: Sarah Williams

Jacks Use Three, Late Stripe Trips to Shelve Lamar on Saturday

1/24/2026 6:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SFA receives twenty-point efforts from Thompson, Patrick; hammers 13 threes for fifth-straight victory, tenth SLC win

BEAUMONT, Texas – Stephen F. Austin men's basketball picked up a fifth-straight victory and a tenth Southland Conference win on Saturday afternoon inside Neches Arena as the Jacks used the three ball and the charity stripe to shelve Lamar 88-81. SFA improves to 17-3 overall and 10-1 in SLC action and enters a five-game homestand atop the league standings.

SFA sank 13 attempts from range, connected on 15 free throws of which seven came in the final two minutes with eight total over the final seven minutes, and finished 52.6% shooting from the floor. Keon Thompson delivered a game-high 26 points (10-18 FG) to lead four Jacks in double-figure scoring as Lateef Patrick followed with 23 points (5 3pt, 6-6 FT), while Kam Burton (4 3pt) and Narit Chotikavanic (3 3pt) each added a dozen points.

The Jacks bucketed their first five shots of the game to build a 13-4 lead at the under-16 media timeout. Triggering the effort in the early going was Burton who hit a pair of threes in the sequence with the second prompting a timeout from the host.

Lamar was solid in response putting together a 14-4 run to grab an 18-17 advantage at the under-12 stoppage. Moments later, Chrishawn Christmas, with a declining shot clock, hit from just inside the far corner arc to put the Jacks back out front 21-20.

SFA then delivered a three-point barrage with Patrick connecting on his second and third three-point makes which sandwiched a trifecta off the trigger of Burton. Thompson then got in on the three-ball act as the Jacks utilized their own 14-4 run beginning with Christmas' mid-range to lead 33-24. Following the under-8 media timeout, Burton drilled his fourth trey to follow a Lamar three-pointer just prior to the brief pause.

A desperate extra-second heave before the half by the Cardinals found the bottom of the net at the horn to cut the SFA lead down to just two points at the intermission. The Jacks led by as much as nine points in the first half.

After Lamar tied the contest at 43 coming out of the break, Patrick fired in a left-wing three to put the Jacks out front 46-43. The Jacks nursed a one-possession advantage until the Cardinals' forced a turnover which led to a go-ahead slam and a 58-57 lead. Prior to Lamar momentarily gaining the lead, Chotikavanic hammered a trifecta for a 57-53 lead and then answered with another triple try to place the Jacks ahead 60-58.

Lamar evened the contest at 60, but would be unable to grab the lead over the final twelve minutes as Thompson followed Chotikavanic's three to give SFA 60 with consecutive steals and finishes at the cup and moments later a Thompson-Christmas-Thompson-Chotikavanic ball-moving clinic was capped with the latter draining a left-wing triple try for an eight-point lead just north of the five-minute mark of the second half.

POSTGAME NOTES

The Jacks improve to 42-31 all-time against Lamar
SFA improves its winning streak to five games
It is the Jacks' eighth road victory of the season which is the most by the program since winning a dozen on the road in 2019-20
The Jacks moved to 5-1 in the month of January
SFA produced its fifth game this season with a dozen or more three-point makes and shot better than 48% from beyond-the-arc for the third time this season
The Jacks produced its second-highest FG% of the season at 52.6%; its highest in 11 SLC games
It was the eighth game this season with 15+ made free throws
SFA crossed over the 80-point mark for the eighth time this season and for the third time against an SLC foe
The Jacks recorded a season-low six offensive rebounds, a season-low 27 total rebounds and were out-rebounded for the fifth time this season
SFA delivered an eighth game with 15+ assists
Thompson recorded his eighth game with 20 or more points and his third game of 26 or more points
Thompson added six rebounds, five assists and four steals
Christmas recorded six rebounds and three assists
Colonel finished with a team-high +/- of 22 as he chipped in with four rebounds, two points, an assist and added to his league-leading block total with two more swats

UP NEXT
The 'Jacks head back to Nacogdoches for a five-game homestand beginning with a Tuesday afternoon tip-off against Northwestern State on CBS Sports Network. The Jacks beat the Demons 74-64 on December 31. Tip-off against NSU is set for 3 p.m. from inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.

#AxeEm x #WinTogether

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