NACOGDOCHES – Stephen F. Austin set a school-record for field goal percentage in a single game Saturday night as the Lumberjacks overwhelmed ACU, 97-62, in a Southland Conference men's basketball game at Johnson Coliseum.
The Lumberjacks broke open a close game late in the first half with a 13-0 run and then went unconscious from the field in the second half to run their home winning streak to 22 straight. The Lumberjacks – who haven't lost a home Southland Conference game since February 2012 – are now 11-5 overall and 4-0 in the league.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, fall to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in the league and will be back in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. when they host McNeese State in a key Southland Conference tilt at Moody Coliseum. ACU has a big week ahead with Tuesday's game against McNeese State, Saturday's game at Incarnate Word and a road game at Sam Houston State (Monday, Jan. 25).
SFA led just 29-27 with 5:34 left in the first half after ACU freshman guard
Jaylen Franklin hit a layup to keep the Wildcats close in a half where they were very competitive with the league's top team. But the Lumberjacks then went on a 13-0 run that pushed their lead to 42-27 with 1:26 left in the half before Franklin hit back-to-back layups to cut the lead to 42-31 at halftime.
Ty Charles had eight points in the half-ending run for the Lumberjacks, while Clyde Geffrard had a pair of free throws and Jared Johnson a 3-pointer to help the Lumberjacks take an 11-point halftime lead. SFA shot 65.4 percent from the field in the first half (17 of 26), while ACU shot 52.0 percent from the floor (13 of 25), but then the Lumberjacks turned it up a notch in the final 20 minutes.
SFA hit 10 of its first 11 shots of the half on its way to burying 22 of 28 shots from the floor in the final 20 minutes, including 8 of 9 from 3-piont range. The Lumberjacks missed just 15 shots the entire game (39 of 54 from the field) on their way to shooting 72.2 percent from the floor, the best single-game shooting percentage in school history and the best single-game shooting percentage by an NCAA Division I team against another NCAA Division I team this season.
The Lumberjacks were also 12 of 15 from 3-point range (80 percent), also the best performance by an NCAA Division I team vs. another Division I team this season.
The Wildcats shot 51.0 percent from the floor themselves (25 of 49), one of its best shooting nights of the season, but it wasn't enough to offset the Lumberjacks, who were a machine in the second half.
"We obviously didn't guard very well, and they took advantage," ACU head coach
Joe Golding said. "But this is one game and we'll get better from this game. We've got a big game against McNeese coming up and we need to get ready to play that one and not carry this game over to that one."
Franklin finished 9 for 11 from the field for 18 points, but for the first time this season did not make a trip to the free throw line.
