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Lumberjacks Host Jarvis Christian
Jan. 2, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Last Game: SFA had its worst shooting performance in more than two years, as the Lumberjacks shot just 26.4 percent in a 69-55 loss at Texas Tech on Thursday. Sophomore Eddie Williams tied for game-high honors with 12 points but was the only Lumberjack to reach double digits, the second time in as many games for SFA to put just one player in double figures. The 14-point loss came on the heels of a 16-point defeat at Arkansas, marking the first time in five seasons for SFA to endure back-to-back losses by double-digit margins. Senior Benson Akpan pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds, and classmate Nick Shaw posted 12 boards, giving SFA two players in double digits rebounding for the first time this season. The Lumberjacks recorded a season-high 54 rebounds and posted a season-low four turnovers but couldn't overcome their poor shooting. vs. Jarvis Christian: Saturday will mark just the second all-time meeting between SFA and the Bulldogs. The first game was the 1980-81 season opener in Nacogdoches and ended with the Lumberjacks on top, 127-73. The Bulldogs: Jarvis Christian brings a 4-2 road record into Saturday's game. The Bulldogs average 79.89 points per game and rank 19th in the nation among the NAIA ranks with a scoring margin of plus-15.44 points per game. Jarvis Christian averages 42.3 rebounds per game and ranks 10th in the country with a plus-10.67 rebounding margin. The Coaches: SFA is led by head coach Danny Kaspar. Kaspar is in his ninth season at the helm for the Lumberjacks. He holds a record of 141-100 (.585) at SFA and has a 360-152 (.703) overall record in 17-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. Jarvis Christian is coached by William Sperow II. Up Next: The Lumberjacks will take a week off before hosting Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference opener on Jan. 10. The game is set for a 2 p.m. start and will be televised on SLC TV.
OFF-BALANCE: Sophomore Eddie Williams scored 12 points to lead SFA in scoring against Texas Tech. This marked the second straight game and the third time this season SFA has had just one player reach double figures in scoring. All four of the Lumberjacks' losses this season have come when fewer than three players reached double digits. EFFICIENT: Arkansas defeated SFA by making the most of its opportunities, while limiting the Lumberjacks' chances. The Razorbacks shot 46.3 percent from the field, the highest percentage by an SFA opponent this season, and finished with a 15-rebound margin over the Lumberjacks, also a season-high for SFA foes. STREAK: SFA's 93-54 win over Austin Peay in the first round of the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic took the Lumberjacks' win streak to six straight games, the longest of the season. The run began with an 83-42 verdict over Texas College on Nov. 29 and included three home wins, one true road victory and a pair of neutral-site wins. SCORE!: The 93 points SFA put up against Austin Peay are the most scored in regulation by a Lumberjack team this season and the most points in regulation against a Division I opponent since SFA beat Centenary College, 94-57, in the 2005-06 campaign. QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE: Four different Lumberjacks reached double figures in scoring in SFA's win over Austin Peay. That marked the fourth consecutive game for at least four SFA players to score in double digits and the fifth time this season for the Lumberjacks to accomplish that feat. ALL IN: Every SFA player touched the floor in SFA's win over Austin Peay, marking the first and only time this season that all 14 players on the Lumberjack roster have entered a game. STEADY EDDIE: Sophomore guard Eddie Williams tied his career-high with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting against Austin Peay. This marked the second time in three games for Williams to reach 25 points and the third time this season for him to lead the team in scoring. He first eclipsed the mark in SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State. Williams' 11 field goals also tied the career-high he posted against the Bison. RANK AND FILE: SFA is ranked No. 13 in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. SFA began the year at No. 11, the first time in the poll's 10-year history for SFA to enter the season as a ranked team and the highest entry to the poll for a Lumberjack team to date. Two weeks ago, SFA was ranked No. 10, marking the earliest move into the top 10 for SFA since the poll began. SFA spent a program-best 15 consecutive weeks ranked in last year's Mid-Major Top 25 after debuting at No. 25 on Dec. 10. The 'Jacks climbed as high as No. 6, including a first-place vote, on Feb. 25, and finished the season ranked 14th. ROAD SHOW: SFA's 66-64 win at Drake was the Lumberjacks' first true road victory of the season. It came on the heels of a neutral-site win against North Dakota State that was SFA's first win outside of Johnson Coliseum this season. The Lumberjacks recorded five non-conference road victories in 2007-08, when they went a program-best 12-1 before beginning Southland Conference play. SCORING SPREE: The 223 combined points SFA and NDSU scored is the highest combined total in an SFA game since the Lumberjacks' 123-103 loss to San Francisco in the 1994-95 season. HIGH POINT: The 111 points scored by North Dakota State are the most given up by a Lumberjack team in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The previous best for an opponent during the Kaspar era was the 92 scored by Arizona State in the season opener of the 2001-02 season, Kaspar's second at SFA. The 78 points the Bison scored in regulation are the most allowed by SFA in a regular-season game since the Lumberjacks beat Northern Illinois, 86-78, in 2006-07. SIXTY: The 60 points scored by NDSU's Ben Woodside are the most scored by an individual against SFA in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The last time an individual scored more than 50 points against a Lumberjack team was in the 1988-89 season, when McNeese State's Michael Cutright scored 51. WORKING OVERTIME: SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State is the longest game in SFA's 23 years as a Division I program and the longest contest played by an SFA team since the Lumberjacks took a quadruple-overtime win against Southwestern, 101-99, in 1983. SFA is now 28-33, all-time, in overtime games. The Lumberjacks are 6-4 in their last 10 overtime contests. TAKE WHAT'S FREE: Junior point guard Girod Adams leads SFA in free throw percentage at .889. He's been perfect from the stripe in five of his last six games with a foul shot attempt and has hit 15 of his last 16 attempts, including 11 straight. At the Drake Hy-Vee Classic, Adams went 6-for-6 at the stripe, giving him seven straight makes dating to the Texas Wesleyan game. For the season, he is 16-of-18 on free throws. DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Matt Kingsley scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against North Dakota State to record his sixth career double-double. The 13 rebounds are a season high for Kingsley and tie the career-best he set last November. With Kingsley's performance coming on the heels of Josh Alexander's 20-point, 10-rebound effort against Texas Wesleyan, the Lumberjacks have now posted double-doubles in consecutive games. TWENTY-SOMETHING: Josh Alexander joined Kingsley above the 20-point barrier with 24 points against NDSU. He has now registered 20 or more points 22 times in his career. KING FOR A DAY: With his career-high 33 points against Jackson State, senior Matt Kingsley briefly took over the team scoring lead from classmate Josh Alexander. Kingsley's jump to 17.0 points per game took him from 17th in the Southland Conference to fourth in one game. It was his second career 30-point game. Kingsley is currently fifth in the SLC with 16.3 points per game. ON THE MONEY: Kingsley did most of his damage in his career game against Jackson State with high-percentage shots in the paint. In fact, high-percentage may be an understatement. He posted a career-best 15-for-16 performance from the field. Kingsley was 12-for-12 with 25 points in the first half. MOVIN' ON UP: In the last five games, senior center Matt Kingsley has jumped five slots on the list of career scoring leaders at SFA. He was 20th all-time heading into the Drake Hy-Vee Classic but came away from the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic 16th and moved into a tie for 15th with 1,151 career points following SFA's game at Texas Tech. THREE-FOR-ALL: Josh Alexander tied a career-high with seven 3-point field goals in SFA's loss at Texas A&M. Alexander was 7-for-10 from downtown and 7-for-12 overall to finish with 21 points. That marked the 11th time in Alexander's career for all his field goals in a game to come from 3-point range. Coming into that contest, the most 3-pointers he had ever hit in a game without scoring from inside the arc was six at Sam Houston Sate during the 2007-08 season. With no attempts at the free throw line, that effort marked just the fifth time in Alexander's career for all his points to come on threes. The previous best total in that scenario was the 12 points he scored on 4-of-7 shooting at Missouri in 2006-07. BETTER HALF: SFA held Texas College to 11 points in the second half of the Lumberjacks' 83-42 win. This ties for the lowest one-half point total given up to an opponent in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar and is the best second-half point total allowed in that time span. The 'Jacks have held opposing teams below 20 points in a single half 30 times under Kaspar and are 28-2 in such contests. SFA held eight opponents under 20 points in a half during the 2007-08 campaign and has done so three times this season. NO SHOT: The Lumberjacks dominated Texas College in the second half of their 83-42 victory. The Steers were just 2-for-22 from the field -- both 3-pointers -- in the final 20 minutes for a second-half shooting percentage of .091. That's the lowest single-half average of the season, and it left Texas College with a .308 shooting percentage for the game, the third time in four contests an SFA opponent had shot worse than 35 percent. LOW POINT: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA has held 29 opponents to 50 points or fewer. SFA held the competition below that level nine times in 2007-08. The previous best under Kaspar was four games in a single season with fewer than 50 points. So far this season, the Lumberjacks have held four opponents to fewer than 50 points. REMEMBERING A LUMBERJACK LEGEND: In memory of Marshall Brown, who passed away over the summer, the Lumberjacks will wear a black band on their game jerseys during the 2008-09 season. Brown coached men's basketball at SFA from 1959-1978 and is the school's all-time winningest coach with 345 career victories. SAFE AT HOME: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 92-27 (.786) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 13-1 home mark last season. SFA is 288-118 (.709) all-time in the Coliseum. SFA defeated Howard Payne, 77-38, in the season opener. Kaspar's teams are 9-0 in home openers at SFA.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format. -- SFA --
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