Stephen F. Austin, SE Louisiana advance to championship game
KATY — It looked like old times for Stephen F. Austin State on Friday night at the Merrell Center, if the past decade counts as old times.
The Lumberjacks, who have four NCAA Tournament appearances since 2009, defeated Nicholls State 78-66 in the semifinals of the Southland Conference tournament before a partisan and rowdy crowd hungry to see SFA back in college basketball’s biggest dance after missing the NCAA postseason last year.
The third-seeded Lumberjacks (27-6) will face top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana (22-10) at 8 p.m. Saturday in the league title game, with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line.
“There won’t be any Vince Lombardi speeches before the game,” SFA second-year coach Kyle Keller said. “These guys know what they’re playing for.”
The eight-team league’s top two seeds earn byes on the first two days of action at the tournament, so the Lions have played only one game so far in the postseason — an 89-79 victory over Sam Houston State earlier Friday, while the Lumberjacks have won two games to get to this point.
Domination in every facet
Stephen F. Austin defeated seventh-seeded Central Arkansas on Thursday night. Nicholls State, the No. 2 seed, also entered Friday’s semifinal fresh and rested, but it didn’t matter against a feisty SFA squad that appears bent on a return to the NCAA postseason and for the first time under Keller.
The fast-starting Lumberjacks led by 15 about midway through the first half and by 10 at halftime, primarily by making 14 of 19 free throws. Guard Shannon Bogues led SFA with 27 points, and guard Ty Charles added 17. A big difference in the outcome came from players who started off watching, as the Lumberjacks’ reserves outscored their counterparts 31-3.
“We have nine ‘starters’ on our team,” Keller said. “That’s our strength — our depth. We’ll have fresh legs (on Saturday) and can play guys over and over again.”
SFA already had defeated Nicholls State 81-64 in early January a Nacogdoches, so the Lumberjacks had the number of the Colonels (21-11) this season.
“Stephen F. Austin is the flagship of our conference,” Nicholls State coach Richie Riley said. “To be the man, you have to beat the man. But they have a way of making you play not real well.”
In a foretaste of Saturday night’s title game, Southeastern Louisiana defeated Stephen F. Austin 73-62 in the teams’ Southland opener at Hammond, La., in late December.
Trying to get back
While the Lumberjacks last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016 under current Illinois coach Brad Underwood, the Lions made their only appearance in the NCAA postseason in 2005 under current Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy.
“We’ve only gone one time, so we realize these things don’t happen very often in the history of Southeastern Louisiana basketball,” fourth-year coach Jay Ladner said.
Keller served as an assistant coach under Kennedy at A&M prior to replacing Underwood after the 2016 season when the Lumberjacks lost by a point to Notre Dame on a last-second Fighting Irish basket in Stephen F. Austin’s bid to advance to the Sweet 16 as a 14th seed.
In Friday’s first game, Sam Houston State saw its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 ended by hot-shooting Southeastern Louisiana.
The fourth-seeded Bearkats (19-14) spent much of the game clawing back against the Lions fter falling behind by 16 points in the first half.
Sam Houston State held a brief lead in the second half before six consecutive free throws by Southeastern Louisiana after a foul and two technical fouls on the Bearkats handed the Lions a lead they would not relinquish.
Southeastern Louisiana came out red hot from the start against Sam Houston State, making 6-of-10 3-pointers eight minutes into the game.
Guard Marlain Veal led the Lions with 29 points and made all 14 of his free-throw attempts.