NACOGDOCHES — Sam Houston came all the way back from 18 points down but ran out of time in the end to fall to Stephen F. Austin 69-67 on Thursday at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats (17-12 overall, 12-4 WAC) tied the game at 67 on a put back layup by
Savion Flagg with eight seconds to go in the game after trailing by double digits most of the evening. The Lumberjacks got a foul call on a 3-pointer with less than two seconds to go and made two free throws to win it.
Tristan Ikpe led Sam Houston with 15 points, and Flagg finished with a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Javon Grant added 12 points, and
Demarkus Lampley finished with nine.
The Bearkats finally got jump started offensively in the second half. Grant sparked a 15-4 run with a driving layup then followed with a pair of free throws and another layup to cut the lead to 53-43.
Ikpe then threw down a dunk and a layup to get it down to a six-point game. SFA was able to score, but Flagg laid one off the glass and
Jarren Cook hit a clutch 3-pointer to make it 55-52 with 7:24 to go in the game.
SFA pushed the lead back to eight only to see Sam Houston come storming back.
Javion May got a run started with a layup and Grant hit two free throws. May scored again and Lampley made two of three free throw attempts to cut the lead to 62-60 to setup the exciting finish.
The Bearkats could not get anything going offensively to start the game. SFA jumped out to 17-4 lead six minutes into first half.
Javon Grant was able to hit a jumper and a pair of free throws the cut the lead to 11. Sam Houston got as close as eight when
Donte Powers hit a jumper and
Javion May scored on a layup to make it 20-12 midway through the period.
The Lumberjacks answered with a 9-1 run and never led by less than double figures the rest of the half.
The Kats were able to close the period on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 41-28 on a layup by
Jaden Ray and baseline jump shot by
Demarkus Lampley.
