KATY, Texas (AP) Ty Charles and Jared Johnson scored 16 points apiece, Jacob Parker had 15 and defending champion Stephen F. Austin raced into the Southland Conference finals with a 91-79 win over Northwestern State on Friday.
The top-seeded Lumberjacks (28-4) also got 13 points from conference MVP Thomas Walkup and 10 from Clide Geffrard to earn a championship date with two-seed Sam Houston State (25-7) on Saturday.
Jalan West had 25 points, Zeek Woodley 17 and Sabri Thompson 16 for the Demons (19-12), who lost despite shooting 51.9 percent from the field (25 of 54) and making 17 of 22 free throws.
SFA shot 52.6 percent (30 of 57), making 8 of 17 3-pointers, and 23 of 26 free throws. With Parker grabbing 10 rebounds, the Lumberjacks had a 34-22 advantage on the boards and had 22 assists, seven by Walkup.
The Lumberjacks led 45-41 at the half.
