Box Score HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana's
Damon Forest scored a career-high 26 points to pace five players in double figures and the Lions made sure senior
Warrell Span would leave the University Center a winner in his final home game in a 98-61 Southland Conference victory over Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon.
Span, the team's lone senior, added 16 points on 8-for-13 shooting for Southeastern (11-16, 5-9 SLC), which scored its most points and recorded its largest margin of victory in a Southland Conference game. The Lions scored the game's first 11 points and never trailed in shooting a blistering 67.9 percent – the second-best in school history – from the floor while draining 10 3-pointers.
“Our guys came out with a lot of focus and they responded really well,” Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “For us, the prize is Katy and the Southland Conference Tournament, but if keep playing like this and we fall short, then there's a bit of a reward. Hopefully, this team will get a chance to get there in the end.”
Forest made sure the Lions would have a chance to earn their sixth straight postseason berth, as they remained one game behind Texas State for the eighth and final spot for the 2009 State Farm Southland Conference Tournament. The transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette went 8-for-9 from the floor and 6-for-7 from behind the 3-point line in 18 minutes of action.
Southeastern made its first five shots of the game in finishing 38-for-56 overall from the floor, including 20-for-28 (71.4 percent) in the second half. A layup by
Robert Tibbs capped a 19-3 run for Southeastern before UCA (9-18, 2-112 SLC) chipped away at the lead.
Three-pointers by Marcus Pillow and King Cannon got UCA twice to within nine points and the Bears cut the lead to 27-21 on Landrell Brewer's layup with 6:45 remaining. But Southeastern closed out the half with an 18-6 run and built a 45-27 lead at the break.
A 3-pointer by Pillow with 18:11 remaining in the game cut the Southeastern lead to 47-34, but
Patrick Sullivan hit one of two free throws and added a jumper before Forest drained a 3-pointer at the 16:04 mark to give the Lions a 53-34 lead.
Span, who finished 8-for-13 from the floor, gave Southeastern its biggest lead of the game when his jumper with 4:54 left gave the Lions an 89-49 lead.
“It was important that we got a win today,” Span said of the Lions' 9-4 record at home. “We need to go into these last two regular-season games with a sense of urgency and play hard on defense. If we can do that, hopefully everything can pay off.”
David Ndoumba scored a season-high 12 points for Southeastern while
Chris Cyprian added 11. Sullivan added 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in posting his 12th career double-double for the Lions. The 6-foot-9 junior also blocked two shots to increase his school record total to 172.
Brewer led UCA, which was held to 16-for-50 (32 percent) from the floor, with 14 points. Mitch Rueter added 10 for the Bears while Pillow was held to eight.
Southeastern returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to face McNeese State (11-16, 5-9 SLC) in a 7 p.m. contest at Burton Coliseum.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS (9-18, 2-12 SLC)
Brewer 5-6 4-5 14; Rueter 3-13 4-4 10; Cannon 2-3 3-4 9; Taylor 2-6 5-6 9; Pillow 3-8 0-0 8; Qahwash 1-2 5-7 7; Marks 0-5 2-4 2; Clayborn 0-4 2-2 2; Henson 0-2 0-0 0; Silverman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-50 25-32 61.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (11-16, 5-9 SLC)
Forest 8-9 4-7 26; Span 8-13 0-0 16; Ndoumba 4-6 4-4 12; Cyprian 5-9 0-2 11; Sullivan 3-3 4-6 10; Fortenberry 3-5 0-0 8; Pope 3-3 0-0 6; Hankins 1-1 0-0 3; Burches 1-2 0-0 2; Patterson 1-3 0-0 2; Tibbs 1-2 0-0 2; Richard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-56 12-19 98.
Halftime – SLU 45, UCA 27. 3-point goals – UCA 4-15 (Cannon 2-3; Pillow 2-5; Taylor 0-3; Henson 0-1; Silverman 0-1; Rueter 0-2), SLU 10-19 (Forest 6-7; Fortenberry 2-3; Cyprian 1-4; Hankins 1-1; Burches 0-1; Tibbs 0-1; Span 0-2). Fouled out - None. Rebounds – UCA 21 (Marks 6), SLU 36 (Sullivan 10). Assists – UCA 6 (Qahwash, Clayborn 2), SLU 23 (Fortenberry, Tibbs 5). Total fouls – UCA 16, SLU 25. Technical fouls – UCA - Bench. A – 1,307.
