Feb. 5, 2010

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** After finishing the first half of the 2010 Southland Conference schedule with a pair of victories and a 4- 4 record, the Lamar Cardinals open the second half of the league slate on Saturday by playing host to the two-time defending regular-season champion Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. The Cards and Jacks shared the title two years ago with matching 13-3 records.

** The series is all tied up at 23-23 with SFA having won the last four, including three of the last four in Beaumont. This will be the Lumberjacks' first visit to the Montagne Center in three seasons.

** Lamar is 8-3 this season when scoring at least 74 points, 10-1 when leading at the half, 10-3 when shooting better from the floor and 9-2 when blocking more shots than the opposition.

** Lamar is 18-7 (.720) in February under Steve Roccaforte, with a .500 record or better each of his three seasons.

** Lamar is 11-2 (.846) at home this season with a 3- 1 league mark. The 11 victories are the most in the SLC thus far. The Cards are 45-12 (.789) since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.

Key Player Updates

Anthony Miles - G

Leads the team in scoring (14.3), assists (3.6), steals (1.3), minutes (34.8), 3-point FG pct. (.379), 3- pointers made (25), 3-pointers attempted (66), FT made (101) and FT attempts (133). He and UTA's Marquez Haynes are the only players in the SLC to rank among the top 10 in scoring and assists, while both also appears among the leaders in free throw pct. and minutes.

Miles has scored in double figures 18 times and has four 20-plus point games. He scored 25 points in the win over McNeese after just 16 in the three previous games. He also has three double-doubles this year and five in his career.

Justin Nabors - F

Leads the SLC and ranks 22nd in the NCAA in rebounds (10.0), while leading LU in FG pct. (.517), FG made (5.3), FG attempts (10.3), while ranking second in scoring (14.2) and blocked shots (0.8). Has scored in double figures 17 times, including a streak of 12 straight prior to the SHSU game last Wednesday. Has posted seven of his SLC-leading 11 double-doubles in the last 10 games and is averaging 17.1 ppg and 10.4 rpg in SLC play. He is tied for 19th in the country in double-doubles.

Kendrick Harris - G

Third on the team in scoring (11.9), second in assists (3.0), steals (1.3) and minutes (32.2). He has produced 13 double-figure scoring games, including 11 of the last 15.

the past seven games, after just 7-for-42 (.167) in the previous 16. Tied his season-high with three steals in consecutive games at AMCC, vs. Texas State and at SHSU.

Series History

This will be the 49th meeting between Lamar and SFA with the series all tied up at 24-24. However, the teams split two games in 1950-51 when LU was still a junior college resulting in the 23-23 record in Lamar's media guides. Lamar is 15- 9 in Beaumont and 8-14 in Nacogdoches.

SFA has won four straight and seven of the last nine. This marks SFA's first trip to Beaumont in three years after each game over the previous two years has been contested at Johnson Coliseum.

The Lumberjacks have won the last two games at the Montagne Center, including a 73-72 overtime decision on Jan. 11, 2007. That game featured 13 lead changes and eight ties as neither squad led by more than six points.

About Stephen F. Austin

Stephen F. Austin rolls into Beaumont with a 16- 5 record and sits in first place in the Southland Conference East Division - second place overall - with a 6-2 mark. After dropping two of their first three league games, the `Jacks have won five-consecutive outings, including Wednesday's 68-67 overtime win over Nicholls in Nacogdoches.

SFA was 10-3 in non-conference action with losses at Minnesota (by 40 points), at home to Texas Tech (by two points) and at Arkansas (by three points).

Four players lead the offensive attack for SFA, led by Eddie Williams' 13.7 points per game on a team-best 55.3 pct. shooting. He is also a 40 pct. shooter from outside with 22 triples. Jereal Scott averages 12.2 ppg and Walt Harris posts 11.8 ppg, in addition to his team-high 30 treys on 42.3 pct.

As with most SFA teams in recent memory, this group is strong defensively, yielding just 61.2 ppg on 43.2 pct. shooting. In eight SLC games, opponents are scoring just 59.9 ppg.

Danny Kaspar is in his tenth season at SFA, where he has a 174-109 record and a 393-161 career mark in 19 years as a head coach. He entered the season ranked 16th among active Division I coaches with a .705 winning percentage. He was an assistant at Lamar during the Cardinals' 1979-80 SLC Championship season that saw the Billy Tubbs-led team advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 after defeating Weber State and No. 5 Oregon State.

Nabors Turning It On During Conference Play

As a senior who missed last season with a leg and elbow injury, Justin Nabors is doing everything he can to make his final season memorable. His scoring average is listed at 14.2 points per game but that doesn't show the second gear he has gone to in league play. He ended the pre-conference slate of 15 games with 12.7 ppg while shooting .503 from the floor and .656 from the FT line. In the seven SLC games he has averaged 17.1 ppg - a 4.4 ppg/33 pct increase, while shooting .539 and .804 from the floor and charity stripe, respectively.

He has scored 653 points for a 12.4 career scoring average. He also has 415 rebounds to put his board averages at 8.0 rpg, which is on pace to finish among the school's top-15.

Miles Passes 500-Point Plateau In Soph. Year

With his 19-point effort in Saturday's win at UTSA, guard Anthony Miles ran his career scoring total to 503 points at Lamar. While a handful of players in recent years have scored 500 points in two seasons, they have all done so as transfers with more college experience than Miles arrived with as a true freshman last season. That being said, he is the first sophomore to reach the 500-point mark in 16 years, following Keith Veney (1992-94) who had 809 after two seasons in 1992-93 and 93-94. Ron Coleman had 882 points after his first two seasons in Beaumont but was actually a junior after he had played his freshman year at Weber State in 1993-94.

Going The Distance

Due to a varied amounts of depth and experience in league play, the Lamar coaching staff has looked to Justin Nabors and Anthony Miles to grab a lions share of the minutes of late. Miles leads the team in minutes played in all games (34.8) and SLC games (36.6) and has been on the floor for all but 20 seconds in the last two games.

Nabors, meanwhile, has played 39 and 40 minutes in the last two games while averaging 33.1 mpg in SLC action. He has a 35.8 mpg avg. in the last four contests.

On Wednesday against UCA, Lamar only made four substitutions in the second half and none for a 13-minute period. The Cards used just seven players in the second half at UTSA (one for just one minute) and eight after the half against UCA (with one of those for just one minute).

Lamar In The NCAA Stats

In the most recent NCAA statistics that were released on Friday, Lamar is ranked in the top half of the country in five team categories. LU is 34th in rebound margin (+5.4), 70th in assists (14.7), 94th in blocked shots (4.1), 145th in scoring offense (70.2) and 161st in field goal pct. (.437).

Individually, Justin Nabors is 22nd in rebounds (10.0), 58th in field goal pct. (51.7) and tied for 19th in double-doubles (11); Charlie Harper is 164th in rebounding (7.3); Coy Custer is 94th in blocked shots (1.7); and Anthony Miles is 209th in assists (3.6).