Box Score NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Hal Bateman scored 10 of his 14 points in a 27-5 run and Stephen F. Austin's suffocating defense limited Southeastern Louisiana to a 4-for-24 performance from the floor in the second half as the Lumberjacks rallied from a seven-point deficit and defeated the Lions, 52-40, in a Southland Conference game Thursday at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
Taylor Smith scored a game-high 15 points, going 7-for-7 from the floor, while Antonio Bostic added 10 points with a pair of second-half 3-pointers as SFA (15-1, 6-0 SLC) won its 10th consecutive game and remained unbeaten in the Southland Conference. Southeastern, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, fell to 5-10 overall and 3-2 in the Southland Conference.
SFA opened the game with a 7-2 run and led 18-12 on a layup by Smith with 6:55 remaining in the first half before the Lions heated up. Consecutive 3-pointers from
Antonnio Benton and
Jeffery Ricard started a 13-0 run by Southeastern that was capped by a pair of free throws by
Roosevelt Johnson with 2:51 remaining.
Bateman, who went 5-for-11 from the floor and dished out five assists, then closed out the half with five straight points for SFA, including a 3-pointer that closed the gap to 25-23 with 1:11 remaining.
After shooting 3-for-16 in the second half in a 63-36 loss in the last meeting at SFA on Jan. 7, 2012, Southeastern went nearly six minutes without a field goal until a jumper by Ricard cut the SFA lead to 31-28 with 14:08 remaining. But SFA pulled away with a 12-0 run as Smith opened with a pair of baskets before Bateman scored on a layup and Bostic answered with back-to-back 3-pointers for a 43-28 lead with 10:04 left.
Desmond Hayman gave the Lumberjacks their biggest lead of the game – 52-34 – with a 3-pointer with 2:41 remaining before Southeastern closed out the game with a 6-0 run.
SFA, which was averaging 4.0 3-pointers per game and was shooting 30.0 percent as a team from behind the arc, finished 7-for-11 from long range and finished 20-for-41 (48.8 percent) from the floor overall.
Southeastern, which shot 9-for-26 from the floor in the first half, finished 13-for-50 (26.0 percent) in the contest. Benton, Ricard,
Todd Nelson and
Dre Evans each finished with seven points to lead Southeastern. Fortenberry and Johnson, the top two scorers for Southeastern entering the game, each went 1-for-9 from the floor.
Southeastern will return to action on Saturday when it travels to face Northwestern State in a 3 p.m. contest at Prather Coliseum.
