Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Deshawn Patterson tied a career-high with 17 points and Southeastern Louisiana closed out the game with an 11-4 run as it claimed a hard-fought 60-53 win over Central Arkansas in a Southland Conference game Wednesday at the University Center.
Patrick Sullivan added 10 points for Southeastern (11-8, 3-3 Southland), which snapped a three-game losing streak and broke a 49-49 deadlock on a layup by
Trent Hutchin with 3:59 remaining.
“We made shots when we had to late in the game,” Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “We missed a lot of shots that we normally make, but stayed poised against a very scrappy and well coached Central Arkansas team. Deshawn did everything for us on both ends of the floor and we defended well and did better on the boards.”
Patterson, who entered the game averaging 3.7 points per game, finished 5-for-9 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free throw line in helping Southeastern to its ninth win at home in 10 contests. The former Vandebilt Catholic product gave the Lions a 59-53 lead with two free throws before taking a charge on the ensuing UCA possession to help seal the win.
Southeastern struggled from the floor against UCA (7-13, 1-5 Southland) shooting 22-for-58 from the floor and 1-for-12 from behind the 3-point line. The Lions, who entered the game converting on 40 percent of their 3-point attempts, missed their first 11 attempts before
Rodney Jones sank a key 3-pointer in the left corner for a 57-52 lead with 1:58 remaining.
The Lions built a 28-25 lead at halftime despite shooting 10-for-35 (28.6 percent) in the first half. Southeastern trailed 16-10 after a three-point play by UCA's Mitch Rueter before rallying to tie the game at 18-18 on a tip-in by Sullivan with 7:23 left in the first half.
Patterson gave Southeastern a 21-18 lead on a three-point play and twice gave the Lions a five-point lead in the final 4:29 of the half. A basket by Sullivan gave Southeastern a 36-30 advantage before the Bears chipped away at the lead.
Rueter, who led all scorers with 22 points, sank a 3-pointer with 11:08 left in the game that cut the lead to 40-39. A layup by Jared Rehmel gave the Bears a 43-42 lead and UCA extended its lead to 46-42 after a free throw by Rehmel and a driving layup by Imad Qahwash.
Hutchin, who finished with eight points for Southeastern, connected on back-to-back jumpers that tied the game at 46-46 and Patterson scored on a jumper and a free throw to give the Lions a 49-46 lead with 5:46 remaining.
After Rueter hit another 3-pointer, the Lions took the lead for good on a Hutchin's layup after a missed jumper by Chris Poellnitz. The Bears had a chance to tie the game on their following possession, but Rueter missed the second of two free throws and Patterson answered for the Lions with an alley-oop for a 53-50 lead with 3:08 left.
Southeastern held UCA to 19-for-49 from the floor (38.8 percent) and 2-for-14 from long range. The Lions outrebounded UCA, 38-31, with
Jason Marks pulling down a season-high 10. Marks, a Little Rock native, added nine points off the bench for Southeastern while Jones grabbed a season-high eight rebounds.
Tadre Sheppard added 12 points, five rebounds and four blocks for UCA while Rueter and Qahwash each grabbed a team-high seven boards.
Southeastern will return to action on Saturday when it visits in-state rival Nicholls in a 2 p.m. contest at Stopher Gym.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS (7-13, 1-5 SLC)
Rueter 8-12 4-5 22; Sheppard 4-5 4-5 12; Poellnitz 2-13 1-2 5; Rehmel 2-8 1-2 5; Qahwash 2-4 1-2 5; Dos Santos 1-3 2-2 4; Sanders 0-0 0-0 0; Henson 0-1 0-0 0; Clayborn 0-2 0-0 0; Daniels 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 13-18 53.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (11-8, 3-3 SLC)
Patterson 5-9 7-9 17; Sullivan 4-10 2-2 10; Marks 4-10 1-2 9; Hutchin 4-11 0-0 8; Tibbs 1-4 3-3 5; Jones 2-8 0-0 5; Ndoumba 2-3 0-0 4; Johnson 0-0 1-2 1; Fortenberry 0-1 1-2 1; Dixon 0-0 0-0 0; Forest 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 15-20 60.
Halftime – SLU 28, UCA 25. 3-point goals – UCA 2-14 (Rueter 2-4; Poellnitz 0-4; Rehmel 0-3; Henson 0-1; Clayborn 0-1; Daniels 0-1), SLU 1-12 (Jones 1-3; Hutchin 0-5; Tibbs 0-2; Forest 0-1; Patterson 0-1). Fouled out - Sullivan. Rebounds – UCA 31 (Rueter, Qahwash 7), SLU 38 (Marks 10). Assists – UCA 8 (Qahwash 3), SLU 10 (Four with 2). Total fouls – UCA 17, SLU 16. Technical fouls – SLU Bench. A – 1,310.
