Lumberjacks Host Lamar :: SFA looking for seventh straight home victory

SLC Home Opener: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will play its first home Southland Conference games of the year this week, when the Lumberjacks host SLC East Division foes Lamar and McNeese State. SFA will take on Lamar Thursday in a 7 p.m. game. The Lumberjacks are 13-2 overall and 1-1 in league play after splitting a pair of league road games in South Louisiana last week. The Cardinals enter the week with a 7-7 overall mark and a 1-0 record in SLC play.

Last Game: SFA overcame a 10-minute scoring drought from the field to hold off Southeastern Louisiana, 48-45, bouncing back from its first loss in 11 games. The Lumberjacks led Southeastern by as many as 13 points early in the second half, but after a Josh Alexander jumper with 10:16 to play, SFA went stone cold from the field, subsisting entirely on free throws down the stretch. Matt Kingsley hit 3-of-4 foul shots in the game's final 10 minutes as he rebounded from a brief scoring slump with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Gerald Fonzie joined Kingsley in double figures with 13 points behind a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range. Alexander failed to reach double figures in scoring for the first time in nine games, but he played all 40 minutes and pulled down 11 rebounds, marking the first time in his career for him to record double digits in the rebounding column in back-to-back games.

vs. Lamar: SFA is 22-22 all-time against Lamar. The Lumberjacks are 6-4 in their last 10 games against the Cardinals and 3-2 with two straight victories in the last five meetings. Under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are 3-2 at home against Lamar but dropped a 70-65 decision in 2005-06, the last time the teams met at William R. Johnson Coliseum. Overall, SFA is 6-5 against the Cardinals under Kaspar. The Lumberjacks won last year's meeting, 73-72, in overtime, at the Montagne Center in Beaumont.

The Cardinals: Lamar is even at 7-7 on the season, but the Cardinals have won six of their last eight games and four of their last five. Lamar is coming off an 81-56 home win over Texas-San Antonio in its Southland Conference opener last saturday. The Cardinals are winless at 0-5 on the road.

The Coaches: SFA is led by head coach Danny Kaspar. Kaspar is in his eighth season at the helm for the Lumberjacks. He holds a record of 121-91 (.571) at SFA and has a 340-143 (.704) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. Lamar is coached by Steve Roccaforte. Roccaforte is 22-24 (.478) in his second season with the Cardinals.

Up Next: SFA will host McNeese State Saturday in a 6 p.m. tip. Next week, the Lumberjacks will travel to Huntsville, Texas, for a much-anticipated showdown with Southland Conference preseason favorite Sam Houston State. The game against the Bearkats is set for a 7 p.m. start.

News and Notes

• FAST START: SFA opened the season with a 12-1 record, the best start to a season since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks. The fantastic start was the best 13-game mark for the program since the 1981-82 season, when the Lumberjacks opened the season with seven straight wins and went on to post a 14-1 record before finally recording their second loss of the season in the 16th game. SFA's 10-game winning streak was the program's first double-digit run since the 'Jacks won 13 in a row during the 2002-03 season.

• RANK AND FILE: Following its first loss in 11 games, SFA was ranked No. 13 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Last week's poll found SFA at No. 10, marking the Lumberjacks' first-ever appearance in the Top 10. This is SFA's sixth straight week in the rankings after entering the poll at No. 25 on Dec. 10, following the Lumberjacks' upset win at Oklahoma. SFA then moved up in the poll each week, jumping to 22nd, 16th, then 11th, before cracking the Top 10 last Monday.

• VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: SFA received a vote in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll in each of the last two weeks of December. This marked the first time since the 2003-04 season for the Lumberjacks to earn a vote in a national Top 25 poll. That year, SFA earned one vote in the Associated Press poll.

• D-UP: SFA's defense has been dominant this season. The Lumberjacks have held opponents to an average of 53.3 points per game, which leads the Southland Conference and ranks second in the nation. While good defense has long been a mark of Danny Kaspar-coached teams, the Lumberjacks have never finished higher than 12th in the national rankings in terms of scoring defense. This season, the Lumberjacks have held 10 opponents to fewer than 60 points and have yet to allow any team to break 70. SFA ranks 17th in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the field. Perhaps most importantly, though, the Lumberjacks don't allow the opposition many second chances. SFA gives up just 29.6 rebounds per game, best in the conference, and the Lumberjacks rank 39th in the nation in rebounding margin, at plus-5.7 boards per game.

• STINGY ON THE GLASS: The Lumberjacks give up the fewest rebounds per game in the Southland Conference. SFA is currently allowing its opponents just 29.6 rebounds per game, the only team in the league to average fewer than 30. In addition, SFA has allowed just one player from an opposing team to record double-digit rebounds in a game. That happened for the first time last Saturday when Southeastern Louisiana's Patrick Sullivan pulled down 10.

• DOUBLE-UP: SFA posted just three double-doubles all of last season -- Josh Alexander had two, and Matt Kingsley recorded one. The Lumberjacks have already surpassed that mark this year with five double-doubles -- each of the first four coming from a different player. Kingsley posted the first with 22 points and 13 rebounds against Jackson State. Nick Shaw then scored 17 points and pulled down 16 rebounds against Louisiana-Monroe, and Eric Bell had 18 points with 11 assists at Northern Illinois three days later. Alexander finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds at Jackson State, then recorded his seventh career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds at Nicholls State.

• DIAL "1" FOR ASSISTANCE: Sophomore point guard Eric Bell (jersey number 1) leads the Southland Conference in assists and ranks 14th in the nation with 5.87 assists per game. He posted a career-high 11 assists at Northern Illinois. That marked the first double-digit assist effort for a Lumberjack since Marcus Clark dished out 10 in a game during the 2005-06 season. Bell also leads the Southland and ranks 38th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.10.

• ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Junior forward Josh Alexander has hit a hot streak that has the Shreveport, La., native on pace for a record year in 2007-08. Alexander is 41-for-80 (.513) including a 24-of-52 (.462) showing from 3-point range in the Lumberjacks' last seven games. He has scored 17 or more points five times in that span, including a season-high 22 twice. Alexander broke the 1,000-point barrier with his 14th point in last Thursday's game at Nicholls State, when he scored a game-high 18 points. If he continues his current scoring pace, he could rank as high as 11th on the school's all-time scoring list by the end of the season. Alexander is also just 19 3-point field goals away from setting a school record for career 3-point baskets.

• ON A ROLL ON THE ROAD: SFA's recent 10-game winning streak included five straight victories in non-conference road games and a neutral-site win. This marks the first time in program history for the Lumberjacks to win five straight road games against Division I, non-conference opponents. It's the first time since the 1981-82 season for SFA to win more than three straight out-of-conference road games against any level of competition. Overall, the Lumberjacks are 7-2 in games outside of William R. Johnson Coliseum this season.

• PERFECT IN THE WRJ: The Lumberjacks are out to a 6-0 start in home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The last time a Lumberjack team won more than three in a row at home to start a season was in 2003-04, when SFA went 16-0 at home as part of a 31-game home winning streak that dated to the previous season and was the longest active streak in the nation by the time it was finally broken.

• BOARDOM: SFA has outrebounded its opponent in 10 of 14 games this season, winning all but one of those contests. The Lumberjacks pulled down 41 rebounds in the win over Louisiana-Monroe, two games after the Lumberjacks' 43-board effort against Jackson State. SFA posted a season-high 49 rebounds against Huston-Tillotson, besting the Rams by 22 boards, then put up 43 rebounds against Paul Quinn and finished with 42 against Wiley. The Lumberjacks pulled down 40-plus rebounds only four times in all last season and surpassed 43 boards only twice.

• SAFE AT HOME: In seven-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled an 81-25 (.764) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 6-0 home mark this season. SFA is 277-116 (.705) all-time in the Coliseum. The 'Jacks went 10-5 (.667) at home in 2006-07. SFA defeated UT-Tyler, 63-47, in the 2007-08 season opener. Kaspar's teams are a perfect 8-0 in home openers at SFA.

• EARLY SIGNINGS: SFA signed three recruits during the fall's early signing period. The Lumberjacks added shooting guard Walt Harris, small forward Zach Williams and power forward Lu Griffin. Harris and Griffin are top-flight junior college players -- Harris from McLennan J.C. and Griffin from South Plains J.C. -- while Williams, a Dallas Skyline product, is a Top 15 prep recruit for his class in the state of Texas. The trio has been ranked tops in the Southland Conference among early signing classes by The Hoop Scoop, with a league-best average player rating of 3.0. Rivals.com rates Harris and Williams as the best shooting guard and small forward, respectively, signed in the Southland Conference this fall.

Scouting the Cardinals

• FOR THE RECORD: Lamar enter this week with a 7-7 overall mark and a 1-0 record in Southland Conference play. The Cardinals opened the season with a 103-64 win over LeTourneau University, but followed that victory by losing five straight. Lamar has not suffered consecutive losses since, putting together three sets of back-to-back wins to even its record. The Cardinals share two common non-conference opponents with SFA -- Northern Illinois and Texas Tech. Lamar dropped both contests, while the Lumberjacks split against those two teams, losing to Texas Tech in the third game of the year and defeating Northern Illinois on the road. The Cardinals are winless on the road this season at 0-5.

• LAST GAME: Lamar is coming off a solid 81-56 home win over Texas-San Antonio in Saturday's Southland Conference opener. The Cardinals shot lights-out in the game, knocking down 56.9 percent from the field. They held a 35-31 lead at halftime after hitting 53.8 percent in the opening period. But, as UTSA's shooting slacked from 43 perent to 38 percent in the second half, Lamar's got better. The Cardinals heated up to 59.4 percent from the field after halftime, including a 7-for-12 (.583) effort from downtown. Todd Currye came off the bench to lead four Cardinals in double figures with 16 points. Lamar Sanders and Darren Hopkins eached scored 15, and Matthew Barrow added 14. Sanders hauled down a team-best eight rebounds, and guard Kenny Dawkins dished out eight assists.

• KEY NUMBERS: Lamar is second in the Southland Conference in scoring offense at 79.2 points per game. The Cardinals also rank second in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 47 percent from the floor, and a league-best 36.2 percent from 3-point range. While Lamar lags to eighth in the SLC in scoring defense (69.4 ppg) and 10th in field goal percentage defense (.469), the Cardinals rank third in the conference in steals with 9.3 thefts per game and lead the league in turnover margin at plus-4.1.

• LEADERS: The Cardinals' high-scoring offense has been evenly distributed, so far, this season. Leading scorer Kenny Dawkins (14.4 ppg) paces three players who average double figures -- Lamar Sanders (11.3) and Justin Nabors (10.2) are the other two -- with two more knocking at the double-digit door. Darren Hopkins and Matthew Barrow average 8.4 and 8.1 points, respectively. .Sanders' 7.4 rebounds per game rank seventh in the conference, and his .647 shooting percentage is second in the league. Dawkins averages 4.43 assists per game, good enough for third in the conference.

• For the complete release, click on the "Lamar Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.

-- SFA --