'Jacks Travel To Shreveport Thursday
12/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2003
BIG TEST, PART TWO: SFA takes its final non-conference road trip of the year Thursday night, travelling to Shreveport, La. to take on Centenary. The Centenary game is the second leg of a two game road trip that began Monday night with a loss to TCU, in Forth Worth. Centenary comes into the game having won two straight and is 3-0 in the Gold Dome with wins over Northwestern State and McNeese State in its last two outings. SFA enters the game in the midst of a two game shooting slump, shooting less than 40 percent in each of its last two games. The 'Jacks are 1-1 in those contests, but have seen their shooting percentage for the season fall to .450 (136-302). SFA continues to shoot well from beyond the three point arc, connecting on just over 38 percent of its three point attempts.
LAST GAME: SFA dropped its first game of the year with an 84-62 loss to TCU, in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs had season highs in field goal percentage, three point field goal percentage and free throw percentage as they had their best game of the season. On the other hand, SFA suffered through its second straight sub-par shooting night, hitting only 19 of 54 field goal attempts for a .352 shooting percentage. The 'Jacks did shoot .348 (8-23) on three point attempts for the game, but it wasn't enough as TCU turned 17 SFA turnovers into 30 points. The Horned Frogs jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, taking a 47-34 into the half. SFA managed to cut the lead to only four at 58-54 but scored only eight points over the final nine minutes of play in falling to TCU. F Antonio Burks once again led the team in scoring with 19 points, while Dedrick Sanders added 11. Taylor Moore led the 'Jacks on the boards with eight rebounds, while Sanders also added seven.
VS. CENTENARY: Centenary leads the overall series, 19-15. The Gents have won two straight from the 'Jacks including last year's 75-69 win in Nacogdoches. The teams have met six times since the 1985-86 season with Centenary holding a 5-1 edge in those games. SFA is 1-2 over that span in games played in the coliseum, winning in the 1994-95 season by a 95-92 final. That was also the last SFA win the series.
THE GENTS: Centenary (3-2) enters the game having won two straight over Southland Conference teams in The Gold Dome. The Gents beat Northwestern State (90-67) and McNeese State (77-71) last week. Centenary is shooting .484 from the field and .410 from beyond the three point arc. The Gents are also outrebounding opponents by almost one rebound per game over the first five games of the year. Centenary is 3-0 at home so far in 2003. G Andrew Wisniewski leads the team averaging 19.0 points per game. Michael Gale (12.6) and Rickey Evans (12.0) are the other Gents averaging in double figures. Chad Maclies leads Centenary on the boards averaging 7.2 rebounds per game.
THE COACHES: The Lumberjacks are coached by Danny Kaspar (266-93) beginning his fourth year with the Lumberjacks. Kaspar is 47-41 in his three plus seasons at SFA. Centenary is coached by Kevin Johnson (49-66), in his fifth season with the Gents. Kaspar is 0-2 against the Gents while Johnson is 2-0 against SFA.
UP NEXT: The 'Jacks then host Grambling State on Dec. 13 as part of a non-conference doubleheader with the Ladyjacks. The Grambling State game is the first of a five game homestand that will run through Jan. 3, 2004.
