By GREG MENGELT
NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS — Josh Jefferson went 14-for-14 from the free throw line and had a game-high 23 points, but his Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders suffered their first loss of the season, 87-74, at Stephen F. Austin’s William R. Johnson Arena on Friday evening.
Jefferson — a former New Albany star — went 3-for-8 from the field. All eight attempts were from behind the 3-point line. He also had four rebounds in the loss, which drops Middle Tennessee to 3-1 on the season.
The rest of the Middle Tenneessee was 2-for-16 from behind the arc.
Jefferson has been the leading scorer in three of the Blue Raiders’ first four games and became the first Blue Raider to make all of his free throws, while shooting 10 or more, since 2017.
Middle Tennessee led 5-0 early after a Jefferson 3 and a Donovan Sims layup. That was the Raiders’ largest lead. The Lumberjacks held a 44-34 advantage. A Camryn Weston layup cut Stephen F. Austin’s lead to 49-48 with a layup with 13:13 left, but the Lumberjacks countered with a 19-8 game-changing run.
“I thought our team stuck together” Middle Tennessee coach Nick McDevitt said. “We started having stretches where we were able to handle pressure and we got ourselves into the ball game. I thought down the stretch there were just a couple big plays that went their way and ended up costing us.”
Middle Tennessee 20.8 percent behind the arc and was out-rebounded 40-27 in the defeat. The Raiders also turned the ball over 21 times. None of the errors were committed by Jefferson.
“We just turned the ball over too much in order to win a road game,” McDevitt said. “I just thought, early, we looked a little frantic. This is the first time we’ve played a team with their defensive style and I didn’t think we handled that very well early in the game.”
Jefferson, a senior, and sophomore guard Eli Lawrence combined for 41 of the Blue Raiders’ 74 points. Lawrence finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
The Lumberjacks (3-1) had four of its five starters in double figures. Senior guard David Kachelries had a team-high 19 points. Stephen F. Austin shot 50.9 percent from the field, compared to 40.8 percent by the Raiders.
Jefferson and his Middle Tennessee teammates now head to Cancun, Mexico, for the Cancun Challenge. The Raiders face Rider (2-2) at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday with the final round Wednesday against either Bucknell (1-2) or Mercer (1-2) at either 12:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. Wednesday.
