WWL: 'Jacks use dramatic win at NSU to escape 1-1 rivalry road trip

Thursday both started and ended with adversity for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. Just a couple miles into their day trip to face league-leading Sam Houston State, the team bus got stuck in second gear.

After returning to campus and cramming the entire team into one of SFA's little shuttle buses, the 'Jacks were back on the road. Twenty miles from prison town, the rocky day continued in the form of a flat tire.

It wouldn't get better. After finally arriving at the other Johnson Coliseum, SFA greeted the second half of play with an all-too-familiar scoring drought. The league-leading Bearkats racked up a double-digit lead and it was too much for SFA to chip away in the final minutes.

Saturday's contest at Northwestern State was a clutch game-tying three pointer from Dallas Cameron away from another road disaster. This time, though, SFA's play-makers came through in a dramatic overtime victory for the good guys.

Sam Houston State dropped a Saturday contest at ACU, meaning the Lumberjacks remain very much alive in the battle for their fifth-straight Southland Conference title. Here are some things we learned over the past week as SFA fought through rivalry week on the road:

Ty Charles still isn't right. But he's getting closer -

I said after the Hawaii tournament as league play was starting that Ty Charles was probably already the Lumberjacks' best player. I was wrong, but don't fault him.

Ty has seen minutes in each game since conference play started but only began practicing about two weeks ago. His basketball IQ is as sharp as ever, but he's clearly not the same Ty Charles this team was hoping to have this season - not yet, at least. During Thursday's contest, he was on the floor directing traffic, mixing it up and drawing technical fouls, playing with the "edge" he's known for. What Charles couldn't do against Sam Houston State is turn his heart of gold into points.

Don't forget that Ty was hurt most of last year too. He hasn't been fully healthy since his freshman year and that's hard for a team who needs him as badly as SFA to handle. "His injury has affected him in ways most people don't know," one assistant coach told me on Friday. "He's still a shell of himself. He needs more time."

A day later, Charles took a step forward. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. He missed some point blank shots and lost a couple on dunk attempts - but he played the entire game plus overtime (45 minutes) and was back to the play-making Ty Charles we all expect.

Even when Ty isn't making shots, and he was on Saturday, teams consistently see him as a threat. The extra attention he gets makes it possible to dish out plays for teammates like this:

Ty and TJ Holyfield both finished with five assists, using the hi-lo mismatches to help SFA score 42 points in the paint. It's almost a shame that Ty's court vision and passing confidence can't be transported to the mind of Aaron Augustin or one of the other young guards. He really does have a special ability to make plays like this:

It's better to be good than lucky -

Shortly after the game, as the SFA contingency in the stands breathed a heavy sigh of relief, high-fived around, and exchanged other pleasantries (I'm an unashamed hugger), a classy older man in Northwestern State attire approached to congratulate us. "You got your money's worth today," he told me as I shook his hand. "It's better to be lucky than good," was the response from an SFA fan somewhere behind me.

No, I have a problem with that. At least in this particular game, luck had nothing to do with the outcome.

Folks, THIS is lucky:

This, on the other hand, is a senior player calling for the ball in a clutch situation and making a play. THIS, is not luck:

Dallas Cameron tore up his ankle at the beginning of the second half and spent a good while in the locker room. Already not the most explosive athlete on the team, Cameron returned to be almost a scoring non-factor. When the seconds were dwindling down and someone had to make a big play, though, Dallas Cameron was - well - Dallas Cameron.

His physical limitations aside, this is what great players do.

The personnel needs are pretty clear at this point -

SFA has some pretty good athletes. There are a number of young players with the potential to be really good. Right now, the way I see it at least, Kyle Keller's team has a pretty solid supporting cast. And no star.

Ty Charles was supposed to be the it guy this season. Keller told me just before the season that Charles was the key to the whole thing. "I need him to have an all-conference kind of season for us to get where we want to go," he said. Since then, Charles' injury limitations have required the ball to go through other hands.

TJ Holyfield might eventually be that guy - I know we all hoped he would. He needs to spend the off-season getting a lot stronger in his hips and working on playing through contact.

In the meantime, here's the problem:

The offensive system is starting to work for the most part. There are stretches in the game where the post man is running free to the basket on four or five straight possessions. And then sometimes its not working. Generally, that's okay. That's when its time to rely on your star to make a play out of nothing.

Unfortunately, without that player, we get the scoring droughts we've seen all season. It was SFA's undoing in Huntsville on Thursday. The Lumberjacks opened the second half to virtually no offensive production for a solid five minutes, just long enough for the Kats to run up a double-digit lead. On Saturday, it happened again. After building a 7-point second half lead on the road at Northwestern State, SFA got stuck in another rut. It was long enough for NSU to put together an 8-0 run, take the lead and make a game of it.

The Lumberjacks desperately need a spark plug guy when the system breaks down. Maybe that will be Ty Charles this season when all is said and done. In 2017-18, between Shannon Bogues and Cameron Mack, the Lumberjacks might be getting a couple more. Still, if this season is going to end the way we want, SFA can't wait that long.

SFA still controls its own destiny, somehow, in the conference championship race -

Saturday's battle in Natchitoches felt a lot like a must-win for SFA. After dropping a tough road game in Huntsville just a couple days earlier, the Lumberjacks couldn't afford to fall two-games back and expect to emerge with a fifth-straight regular season title.

Albeit barely, SFA took care of business. Then they got some help.

Sam Houston State lost in Abilene to an ACU team with just three conference wins (well, four now). Hilariously, the Wildcats have lost to the beatable SLC squads while topping each of the four top teams in the league. Southeastern Louisiana, who entered the day tied with SFA, lost at Central Arkansas. Somehow, even after the missed opportunity on Thursday, SFA still sits just a game back of the lead with remaining contests against Sam Houston State and New Orleans.

Destiny, and another SLC title, still sits squarely in SFA's control. Just take care of business, starting with a home rematch versus Incarnate Word this Thursday. Until then, let's enjoy a rare road win: