NACOGDOCHES, TX - In front of 3,120 excited fans for Stephen F. Austin's home opener - whose last game was in the NCAA's March Madness - Texas Wesleyan gave the Lumberjacks all they could handle, ultimately falling 83-71. Monday night, Texas Wesleyan edged Jarvis Christian 85-81, improving to 2-1 on the season.

While the Stephen F. Austin game doesn't officially count in the standings, the showing is extremely encouraging to the program's potential in the 2018-2019 season. The Rams shot 56% from the floor in the first half, actually capturing a 39-37 halftime advantage, and continued strong showings from the foul line in the game - 13-of-14. Five different players scored in double figures: Juwan Jones (12), Rob Thomas (11), Diing Lwal Diing (10), Julian Torres (10) and Joe Cook-Green (10 - in just 12 minutes). Sam Lorenzen found the range, hitting three of the team's 12 three-pointers. Dare Brazel added six points and a team-leading seven rebounds.

Monday night, in a NAIA game that counts, Texas Wesleyan left hostile territory with another close victory, this time over Jarvis Christian. Julian Torres turned in a 17-point, 9-rebound performance while Jones added 15 points, Thomas and Diing contributed 14 and Lorenzen poured in 13. After just seven made three-pointers in the first two games of the season, Texas Wesleyan has hit 24 of their last 43 three-point attempts.

BACK HOME
A four-game homestand begins Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. against Arlington Baptist as the Rams begin their hosted Texas tour against ABU, Wiley (Saturday), Texas College (11/12) and Our Lady of the Lake (11/17).