Thompson's 32 points lift Lumberjacks over UTRGV

EDINBURG — Stephen F. Austin (22-3, 16-1) the first-place team in the Southland Conference, defeated the UTRGV Vaqueros (14-12, 10-7) at the Fieldhouse on Saturday, 66-57. 

The tough loss snaps the Vaqueros’ eight-game winning streak, as they are now in a three-way tie for third place in the conference.

The other two teams who are in the tie are Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nicholls State.

UTRGV had a cold streak in the opening minutes of the game as they found themselves down 8-0 in the first half. However, throughout the game, there were moments when the Vaqueros found their groove on the offensive side. 

The Lumberjacks shot 37% of the field, while UTRGV was 40%.

Both teams were physical thoughout the entirety of the game and the Vaqueros showed it as their defensive prowess kept Stephen F. Austin to shooting only 22% from the three-point line.

However, Keon Thompson, scooped up 32 points off of 12-18 shooting. Thompson was the go-to scorer for his squad while the Vaqueros’ offensive effort was distributed across multiple players.

Koree Cotton had a team high 15 points with 6 rebounds. Behind him, Jaylden Washington had himself 13. Filip Brankovic was third on the team with 10 of his own.

Head Coach Kahlil Fennell said that the team didn’t come with the toughness that they needed for the conference game — noting the cold streak they had in the beginning.

“I thought we came out timid, thought we came out on our heels and we put ourselves in a really bad position,” Fennell said.

Besides the 13 turnovers for the Vaqueros, Cotton was the only player who had opportunities at the free throw line.

“We need to get tougher. Well, we need to be more stubborn getting into the painted area, either as a cutter, either as a post seal guy, whether as a driver, and then we have to land, play off of 2 feet, finish the contact,” the coach said. “We’re shying away from contact, looking for fouls.”

UTRGV rebounded Monday against Lamar with a 70-65 win. The dub punches their ticket to the Southland Conference tournament.