Thompson’s 32 Muscles Jacks to Road Win at UTRGV

Saturday, February 14

Edinburg, Texas

4:30 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

23-3,16-1Southland

UTRGV

14-12,10-7Southland

SFA

UTRGV

Photo by: Sarah Williams

Thompson’s 32 Muscles Jacks to Road Win at UTRGV

2/14/2026 8:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SFA wins 11th straight, snaps Vaqueros eight-game streak and moves to 23-3

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Senior guard Keon Thompson delivered a career-high 32 points with 25 coming in the second half on 9-of-10 shooting, Stephen F. Austin finished +16 in points off turnovers in addition to grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, and the Jacks defended the perimeter well holding UTRGV to a 19% success rate (5-for-26) to pick up an 11^th straight win with a 66-57 decision on Saturday night in the Valley. The win is the 23^rd this season for the league-leading Jacks and moves SFA's Southland Conference record to 16-1 with five games remaining.

Thompson went into the half with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting as the Jacks made just 25% of their attempts from the floor in the opening twenty, but attempted 14 more shots than the host, while allowing just three Vaquero makes from three in 15 first-half attempts.

Coming out of the break, however, Thompson erupted offensively leaning into his physicality to deliver over two dozen points in 16 minutes making 90% of his shots with seven makes from the stripe. In less than a two-minute span under the eight-minute media, Thompson scored three times with each possession putting the Jacks back up three points as UTRGV closed to within a point of the SFA lead twice after leading by ten points with 8:48 to play.

Narit Chotikavanic strung together a trio of trifectas nailing his first at the 11:46 mark of the second half to put SFA up 41-35, hitting a second at the 10:29 mark for a seven-point lead and then took advantage of a second-chance possession for the Jacks to hammer home his third in as many attempts to place SFA up ten at 47-37 with 9:36 left.

In the first half, the Jacks opened on an 8-0 run as part of a 10-2 start with five different players scoring. The Jacks defended extremely well in the opening forcing the host to miss their first seven shots, before the first bucketed attempt for UTRGV came at the 12:50 mark.

Thompson hit a three as the clock dipped under ten to play before the break to push the Jacks up 10 at 17-7 and with just over three minutes remaining, Kam Burton hammered a triple try to give the Jacks a two-possession lead at 21-14. UTRGV pulled within two points before the intermission, but free throws from Lateef Patrick and a tough second-chance finish by Thompson, who recorded a block just prior to the final possession of the half, sent the Jacks to a 25-19 lead after the first twenty minutes.

POSTGAME NOTES

The Jacks claim the regular season series over the Vaqueros adding Saturday night's road win to a 73-60 victory in Nacogdoches on December 3
SFA has won 11 straight games; the longest streak since the 2019-20 season
It is the 16^th win in league play this season; the most since the 2019-20 campaign
The Jacks improve their road record to 9-3
SFA never trailed leading for nearly 38 minutes
SFA finished +9 in rebounding as the squad eclipsed 40 boards for the 13^th time this season, but for the first time in its last five games
The Jacks corralled 19 rebounds for the fifth time this season and for the first time in league play
SFA has made 15 or more free throws in three of their past four games
Thompson sank a career-high dozen shot attempts
Jerald Colonel grabbed 13 rebounds with seven off the offensive glass to beef up his league-leading offensive boards average
Christmas followed with eight rebounds as he eclipsed the 500-rebound mark as a Lumberjack
Chotikavanic scored 11 points highlighted by the string of three-straight triple tries

UP NEXT
The 'Jacks head up to Corpus Christi for a matchup against the Islanders on Monday, February 16. SFA beat Texas A&M-CC 69-60 in Nacogdoches on December 17. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.

#AxeEm x #WinTogether

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