BOX SCORE

LAKE CHARLES – Stephen F. Austin entered Saturday's Southland Conference opener against McNeese as the league's defending champion and preseason favorite to repeat. It took advantage of five offensive rebounds in the final three minutes to hold off the Cowboys 80-75 here at Burton Coliseum in a game where the two teams went toe-to-toe from start to finish.
 
The win was the 10^th straight for SFA (11-3, 1-0 SLC) while McNeese fell to 6-6 overall and opened the league slate 0-1 while dropping its third straight game in its home arena.
 
After trailing 50-39 with 16:01 to play, and again at 52-42 with 14:10 left, McNeese strung together a 21-7 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the game after a free throw by Keelan Garrett put the Cowboys up 60-59 with 8:12 to play.
 
That was one of Garrett's career-high 26 points on the night as he and Shaun Johnson combined to knock down 7 of 12 from long range.
 
The two teams traded baskets over the next six minutes when a three-pointer by Johnson tied the game up for the fourth time at 68-68 with 3:44 to play. Johnson finished the game with 12 points to tie a career-best.
 
"This was a very physical basketball game," said head coach Dave Simmons. "Both teams were going back and forth and it was a championship-type game."
 
A free throw by SFA's Thomas Walkup, who finished with 12 points and was one of four Lumberjacks to score in double-digits, put his team up by 1 but was followed by miss. After three offensive rebounds on the possession, SFA's Clide Geffrard sank two free throws to make it a 71-68 lead with 2:43 to play.
 
"That was a stretch where tied it or took the lead late in the game, they got about four possessions, loose balls that we didn't get. If we can just get one of those loose balls when we're up, then that puts us in a pretty good position."
 
Both teams hit shots on their ensuing possessions and Johnson hit another three to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:03 to play. Ty Charles followed with a three of his own to make it 76-73 with 38 seconds to play. A layup by Kevin Hardy cut the gap to 1 with 22 ticks remaining but the Lumberjacks hit four straight free throws in the final 19 seconds to close out the game.
 
Desharick Guidry recorded his 10^th double-double of the season after scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds while Hardy added 11 points, nine assists and six boards.
 
Charles and Demetrious Floyd led SFA with 13 points each and Geffrard added 11.
 
Both teams shot 50 percent from the field but SFA sank 12 of 26 from 3-point range while the Cowboys hit 9 of 16. The Lumberjacks also made 16 of 21 from the free throw line whereas McNeese was just 12 of 22.
 
"I think the physicality of the game and the going back and forth played a big factor of us going 12 of 22 from the line," said Simmons.
 
McNeese turned the ball over 10 times and just twice in the second half, but SFA scored 10 points off those miscues. The Cowboys held a 36 to 26 advantage in the rebound department.
 
The Cowboys will return to action on Monday when they host Houston Baptist in the second half of a doubleheader with the Cowgirls that gets underway at 5:30.