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KATY, Texas – The Lumberjacks will put on their dancing shoes once again.
Stephen F. Austin defeated its rival Sam Houston State for the third time this season, downing the Bearkats 83-70 at Merrell Center on Saturday to win their second straight Men’s Basketball Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Conference Player of the Year Thomas Walkup scored 24 points en route to earning the tourney’s Most Valuable Player honors. Walkup also added eight rebounds and five assists as SFA (29-4) defeated Sam Houston State (25-8) for the 11th straight time, including consecutive victories in the conference title game.
“I’m excited just for the fact that we can go back and be on the big stage and be able to grow the name Stephen F. Austin and try to build our legacy,” said Walkup. “Individual awards happen when you win as a team. I happened to have a good game tonight.”
While the Bearkats have gone 49-19 over the past two seasons, the fact that six of their losses have come to their Piney Woods rivals leaves a stinging feeling. Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten – who sat center Michael Holyfield during the regular-season finale against the Lumberjacks last week – started his 6’11 center, a move that had paid dividends in the early going.
“As a coach, I think that when you know that you’ve tried everything you can try and someone beats you three times, then they’re just better than you,” said Hooten. “It’s hard to deal with.”
The Lumberjacks trailed 25-24 with 5:16 left in the first half before closing out on a 13-2 run that was capped off by Tanner Clayton’s 40-foot buzzer beater that banked off the glass to give SFA a 37-27 lead at intermission. They kept the pressure on the Bearkats to open the second half and took a 51-35 lead with 14:26 left.
“That was a huge run,” said SFA coach Brad Underwood. “We talk about the first four minutes of the half and the last four minutes of the half. To have that half-court shot go in and then have the possession to start the second half, that is very rare in basketball to have two consecutive possessions without them touching it.
“Our run was basically our defense that secured some defensive rebounds that allowed us to get out and run.”
Sam Houston State was unable to recover from the spurt, and while the Bearkats kept within shouting distance for much of the second half, they were never able to put together enough of a run to counter SFA. Much of that was due to their inability to find the basket, as they shot just 36.1 percent from the field.
“We could’ve played better,” said Hooten. “We went 3-for-20 (15 percent) from the 3-point line, and if we could have had some of those go in during that stretch when they got up 16 points, it would have been a different game.”
SFA, which advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to UCLA, may not be on the map of many college basketball pundits, yet Underwood feels the opportunity is there to make a bigger impact.
“The national spotlight is going to bring some attention, but what I talk about every day is trying to grow the program,” he said.
Walkup was one of four Lumberjacks in double figures, as fellow SFA all-tournament selection Jared Johnson had 17 points, while Dallas Cameron had 14 and Jacob Parker finished with 11. Holyfield led Sam Houston State with 18 points to go along with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Kaheem Ransom had 16, Jamal Williams had 12 and Jabari Peters scored 11.
Walkup and Johnson were joined on the all-tournament team by Sam Houston State’s Holyfield and Peters and Northwestern State’s Zeek Woodley.
SFA lost backup forward Bobby King to a knee injury in the first half.
All-Tournament Team
Thomas Walkup, SFA (MVP)
Jared Johnson, SFA
Michael Holyfield, SHSU
Jabari Peters, SHSU
Zeek Woodley, NSU
POSTGAME QUOTES
Stephen F. Austin
Head Coach Brad Underwood
“It was everything I thought it would in terms of a basketball game. All the compliments to [Sam Houston State head coach] Jason [Hooten]. To have 25 wins is very hard to do at the Division I level. My hat is off to him too and the job they did. They kept us in a little bit of a guessing game because of the way they played us the last game. A big key was midway through the first half, we finally started securing defensive rebounds, which allowed us to get out and run. We had two rebounds at the half, which was very uncharacteristic for us on the offensive end. Again, a lot of credit to Sam Houston State. In the second half, we found a nice offensive flow. For the most part I was pretty pleased with our defense. We’ve been a resilient team all year and tonight that paid off.”
On the last two seasons…
“I think the one thing I try to do as a head coach is be consistent. Every single day in my approach with these guys, we go and practice hard. I’m very demanding and I think they’ll tell you that. I expect them to be perfect in an imperfect game so when we get in these moments we talk about it a lot.”
Junior Guard/Forward Thomas Walkup
On enjoying this title…
“We don’t really enjoy this one until after the season. We have so much more in front of us that we can accomplish. No need to enjoy this one when we have bigger things to enjoy.”
On returning to the NCAA Tournament…
“[I am] excited. Excited just for the fact that we get to go back and that we get to be on the big stage and continue to grow the name of Stephen F. Austin and try to build our legacy.”
Sam Houston State
Head Coach Jason Hooten
Opening Statement…
“Well first of all, you have to give credit to Stephen F. Austin. They were the better team tonight. We tried to do some different things than we did last Saturday and as a coach I think that when you know you’ve tried just about everything you think you can try and somebody beats you three times there just better than you. It’s hard to deal with, obviously, but at the end of the day I know our guys went out there and played there hardest and gave everything they had. You know we could’ve played better. I mean we were 3-for-20 from the 3-point line and if we had some of those go in during that stretch when they got up 16 or 18, it would’ve been a different game. Other than that, I thought we reached some of our goals that we needed to tonight. We just gave them a little too much from the field, we gave them 48 percent and basically our shooting, I mean we shot 36 percent and that was the difference in the game.”
On if SFA is a bad matchup…
“Yeah, I think we have been talking about that all year long it’s like a broken record. But I mean yeah, obviously it is. I’ve said this a hundred times, they don’t play with a post man. Parker is not a postman, he’s a guard and the guy here is a true center that you’re going to see play on TV and it’s hard for him so we tried something different tonight. We put him on a guy that doesn’t shoot the ball and I thought it worked but we just weren’t good enough offensively when we did get stops. But yeah, it’s a bad matchup for us but there is a reason why they’ve lost one conference game in the last two years because it’s a bad matchup for a lot of people.”
On his senior class…
“It’s just as good a group as I’ve been around in my life. You know in this business when you can go to practice every day and just know that you’re going to have a group of guys give everything they have and you go home whether it was a good day or bad day and you know that effort was there, there is nothing better than that coaching. And then the other part about that is every night I go home I just don’t worry about one of those guys doing anything that they’re not supposed to be doing. That’s just a blessing, you know we always as coaches don’t have that opportunity but these are as good as kids as I have ever been around in my life and it reflects how they play. You know we fell short of our goal but you can’t take anything away from what the group has done.”
Senior Guard Jabari Peters
On his 3-point shooting…
“I feel like my guys, my teammates, they found me in spots where I know I’m normally hit shots and tonight is one of those nights where they weren’t going in. It’s a real disappointing feeling but it’s something I just have to live with.”