NACOGDOCHES, Texas- The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (11-13, 4-9) picked up their second straight win tonight defeating the visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (15-10, 8-5) 78-64 at the Sawmill.
The Islanders came out firing as they jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Keon Thompson broke the ice for SFA with a free-throw to make it 5-1. The first five minutes of the first half saw both teams playing tough defense with Corpus holding a 9-5 lead.
Shortly after the five-minute mark, the Lumberjacks offense started to feed off the Sawmill crowd as they went on an 8-0 scoring run thanks to five points from Dominic Pangonis off the bench and a triple from Nana Antwi-Boasiako to launch SFA in the lead at 13-11. Points continued to come flooding in as seven points from Corpus brought them to within three at 18-15.
The Lumberjack offense was not done flexing their scoring abilities in the first half as shortly after the midway point of the opening half, SFA embarked on a 13-0 scoring run to extend their lead to 28-18. The Lumberjacks kept the points coming over the final five minutes as they outscored the Islanders 15-8, including going into the half with a jolt of energy as they ended the first half on a 7-0 scoring run and held a comfortable 43-26 lead at the half.
The Islanders came out of halftime looking to stage a second-half comeback and wasted no time doing it as the first five minutes saw them go on a 14-5 scoring run to close the SFA lead down to 48-40. SFA, however, refused to let Corpus close the gap any further as over the next five minutes they would knock down three triples courtesy of Keon Thompson, Keith Lamar, and Matt Hayman, to spark a 12-2 scoring run and extend the lead back to 18 at 60-42.
Points after the halfway point of the second half came largely in the form of free-throws as the Islanders would convert five of them and SFA two of them. SFA still maintained a steady 62-51 lead with eight minutes remaining. SFA extended their lead to 68-51 with five minutes left, and a Keon Thompson three-pointer helped SFA cross the 70-point threshold and keep their lead at 18, 71-53.
The final five minutes saw both teams exchange a flurry of free-throws as SFA ended the game with five free-throws over the final three minutes and Corpus adding on four of their own, however, SFA kept their foot on the gas and didn’t allow any Corpus momentum to build as they never let their lead fall below double-digits and cruised their way to a 78-64 win over the Islanders.
Top Players of the Game:
- Nana Antwi-Boasiako: 20 points (led team), five rebounds, one assist, five blocks (led team), one steal
- Matt Hayman: 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals
- Keon Thompson: 13 points, nine rebounds (led team), nine assists (led team), three steals (led team)
- Dominic Pangonis: 13 points, six rebounds, one block
The Lumberjacks aim for their third straight win on Monday evening as they close out their two-game homestand against former WAC foe UTRGV in a Monday evening showdown at the Sawmill. Tip-off for Monday’s game with the Vaqueros is set for 6:30 p.m. CST at the Coliseum. mberjacks-fall-to-cardinals
By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications
https://sfajacks.com/news/2025/2/8/mens-basketball-lumberjacks-get-big-win-over-the-islanders