March 10, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - The movie "Miracle" may be a big box office hit, but for Stephen F. Austin, the miracle was on the stage.
Antonio Burks canned a 3-point jumper with :04 seconds to play to rally the Lumberjacks from a five-point deficit in the final :41 seconds for a 69-68 win over Texas-Arlington and a trip to the Southland Conference Postseason Tourney finals.
No. 4 seed SFA will face No. 3 Texas-San Antonio Friday at 3:30 p.m. in San Antonio in the tournament finals with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
UTA led 68-63 with :41 to play after two free throws by Keith Howell. SFA's Marcus Clark canned a 3-pointer with :27 to play. B.J. Banks fouled UTA's Jarrett Howell seven seconds later, and after a timeout, Howell missed the front end of a one-and-one. The miss was rebounded by Dedrick Sanders and set up the jumper in the left wing by a wide open Burks, the nations' second leading 3-point field goal shooter. Burks' 3-pointer gave SFA a 69-68 lead with :04 to play.
Derrick Obasohan heaved up a near-half-court shot that just missed to the right as a sea of SFA purple rushed the court.
Obasohan scored a game-high 22 points for UTA. Steven Thomas and Keith Howell added 12 and 10 points, respectively. SFA was led by Dedrick Sander's 20 points. Hank Rivers and Banks added 11 and Burks canned 10.
"I didn't want the timeout at the end of the game," said a stunned UTA coach Eddie McCarter. "We were in transition and had the ball near mid-court when the official thought we called timeout on the bench."
"I thought it was a great college basketball game," said SFA coach Danny Kaspar. "There were a lot of experienced seniors on the floor at the end of the game and both teams gave everything they had to win the game. We were able to get the ball to Antonio's hands and he made a great play to win."
SFA led by as many as 10 points in the first half and settled for a 36-34 lead at halftime.
Obasohan, who was held to three points the first 18 minutes of the game, took control of the game midway through the second half, scoring nine straight points over a 2:00 span to keep UTA on top, 59-55, with 6:35 to play.
Both teams traded blows in the finals minutes setting the stage for the final-minute drama.
Stephen F. Austin 69, Texas-Arlington 68
Stephen F. Austin (69) - Sanders 7-8 5-6 20, Rivers 4-7 3-6 11, Clark 3-10 1-2 8, Banks 3-8 2-2 11, Burks 4-13 0-0 10, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Porter 1-1 0-0 3, Gast 2-6 0-0 6, Segantim 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 25-56 11-16 69. Texas-Arlington (68) - Beacham 3-5 1-2 8, Obasohan 8-17 4-4 22, Johnson 1-1 2-2 4, K. Howell 3-6 4-4 10, J. Howell 1-4 1-3 3, Dawkins 2-7 0-0 6, Hairfield 0-0 0-0 0, Floyd 1-4 0-0 3, Thomas 3-5 6-10 12. Totals: 22-49 18-25 68.
Halftime: SFA 36, UTA 34. Three-point field goal: SFA 8-20 (Banks 3-5, Burks 2-7, Sanders 1-1, Porter 1-1, Clark 1-2, Gast 0-4), UTA 6-19 (Obasohan 2-6, Dawkins 2-7, Floyd 1-2, Beacham 1-2, J. Howell). Rebounds: SFA 35 (Rivers 13), UTA 27 (Johnson 9). Assists: SFA 10 (Clark 5), UTA 13 (Dawkins and J. Howell 4). Turnovers: SFA 11 (Clark 3), UTA 9 (Obasohan, Johnson and Dawkins 2). Blocks: SFA 1 (Sanders), UTA 6 (Thomas 3). Steals: SFA 3 (Rivers, Burks, Gast 1), UTA 6 (Dawkins 2). Total fouls: SFA 17, UTA 13. Fouled out: Banks. Technical fouls: None. Att.: 1,853.
