Baylor
6-4
Stephen F. Austin
6-4
MBB Falls Late to SFA, 59-58
12/18/2018 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tristan Clark scored a game-high 24 points
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
SFA coach Kyle Keller knew his Lumberjacks were catching the Baylor Bears at the absolute best time.
"They just beat the best home team in America in Arizona," Keller said, "and we caught them on the right night."
The hangover from Baylor beating Arizona, 58-49, three nights earlier and snapping the Wildcats' 52-game home-court non-conference winning streak was just enough to give SFA a chance in Tuesday's game at the Ferrell Center.
Scoring just one point over the last four minutes, Baylor (6-4) let a late eight-point lead slip away and fell to the Lumberjacks, 59-58, on Shannon Bogues' buzzer-beating shot off the glass as the Bears dropped their second in the last three games and their second home game of the season.
"As exciting as our last game was, that was how disappointing this game was," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "We couldn't throw it in the ocean, couldn't make free throws, turned it over. With all that being said, if we guard the second half like we did in the first half, especially in the first eight minutes, we win the game. . . . You're not going to win close games unless you make free throws."
That turned out to be the telling stat of the game as the Bears missed nine of 21 for the game and three big ones in the last 3 ½ minutes that could have sealed the deal. Mark Vital missed a pair at the 3:18 mark with a chance to extend the lead to double digits, then Tristan Clark made just one of two a minute later for Baylor's last point of the game.
"It was tough coming back (from the Arizona win)," said Vital, who finished with seven points, 12 rebounds and five steals, but also had six turnovers and was just 1-of-5 from the line. "We still had a chance to win. I feel like if I would have made my free throws, it would have given us a chance to win."
Bogues, who played at crosstown McLennan Community College, scored the first nine points of the second half and then drained a long-distance trey before driving the length of the court in the last six seconds for the game-winner for the Lumberjacks (6-4).
"I shot it with confidence," Bogues said of the 3-pointer that he shot from NBA range over tight defense from Makai Mason. "Once I released it, I knew it was going on. We just had to get a defensive stop. So, once we did that, I just drove to the basket. I went by a guy (Vital) and just got to the basket."
After Clark's free throw, Davonte Fitzgerald knocked down a jumper, followed by the Bogues trey that made it a one-point game, 58-57, with 40 seconds left on the clock.
Milking the shot clock down, Mason drove inside the paint and missed a tough jumper that would have iced it.
"We feel very good with him getting a high-percentage shot or getting a good look," Drew said of Mason, who scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. "And then, if he doesn't make it, you've got rebounders in position. The problem was when we didn't get the rebound, we needed to get back on defense. And we didn't get back."
Clark hit all nine of his shots from the field and scored a game-high 24 points, but SFA had three players score in double figures to offset the sophomore center's monster night. Bogues led the way with 21, while Fitzgerald and Kevon Harris had 15 and 11, respectively.
"(He was unstoppable) when we could get him the ball," Drew said of Clark. "The tough thing is the way they were guarding him limited getting him the ball, because you had to clear the back side and do some different things. What was really tough was Arizona was completely different. It's a gap defense. It lets you move the ball, keep everything in front of you. And SFA is deny everything. We didn't have enough carryover in what we practiced."
The Bears stay home for their next two games, hosting Oregon (8-3) at 6 p.m. Friday and then New Orleans (5-4) next Saturday, Dec. 29.
