Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Patrick Sullivan scored 14 points, becoming the 16th player in school history to reach 1,000 in his career, and Southeastern Louisiana used a 17-8 run to close out the first half to pull away and defeat Lamar, 78-56, in the Southland Conference opener for both teams Saturday at the University Center.
Sullivan, who added a team-high five rebounds and blocked five shots, increased his career scoring total to 1,006 points, passing former Lion Melvin Smith for 15th place in school history. The senior went 7-for-13 from the floor and reached his milestone with a short jumper with 7:12 remaining in the first half.
Damon Forest scored a game-high 24 points, including four 3-pointers, as Southeastern (9-5, 1-0 Southland) shot 61 percent from the floor and made 10 of 18 3-pointers.
Trent Hutchin came off the bench to score 13 points for the Lions, who finished 31-for-51 overall, while
Robert Tibbs added 10 points.
Lamar (8-8, 0-1 Southland) took a 5-4 lead on a jumper by Anthony Miles with 17:28 left in the opening half before the Lions took the lead for good on a jumper by Forest with 16:37 remaining. The Lions pushed their lead to 17-7 on a jumper by Sullivan at the 12:55 mark before Lamar chipped away at the lead.
Charlie Harper drained a 3-pointer from the left corner that closed the gap to 19-10 and the Cardinals got as close as 22-16 when Kendrick Harris hit two free throws with 8:49 remaining.
That would be as close as Lamar would get as Southeastern pushed the lead to 39-22 on a layup by
Deshawn Patterson and 41-24 on a driving layup by
Rodney Jones just before the buzzer.
Forest, who finished 10-for-14 from the floor, opened the second half for the Lions with a 3-pointer and a jumper by Sullivan at the 19:10 mark gave Southeastern a 46-26 lead.
Hutchin, who went 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc, gave Southeastern its biggest lead of the game when his 3-pointer put the Lions up, 78-49, with 2:31 left.
Patterson dished out a career-high 11 assists for Southeastern, which forced 14 turnovers and blocked nine shots as a team. The Lions held Lamar to 18-for-52 (34.6 percent) from the floor and 2-for-12 from behind the 3-point line.
Justin Nabors paced Lamar, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Harris added 10 points for the Cardinals, who held a 34-26 advantage on the glass.
Southeastern will return to action on Wednesday when it travels to face in-state rival Northwestern State in a 7 p.m. contest at Prather Coliseum.
LAMAR (8-8, 0-1 SLC)
Nabors 7-13 5-7 19; Harris 2-7 6-8 10; Harper 2-6 0-0 5; Brown 2-3 1-2 5; Mathis 1-6 2-2 4; Lopez 1-1 0-0 3; Miles 1-7 1-2 3; Nwevo 1-5 1-2 3; Minor 0-2 2-3 2; Custer 1-2 0-0 2; Carter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 18-26 56.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (9-5, 1-0 SLC)
Forest 10-14 0-0 24; Sullivan 7-13 0-0 14; Hutchin 5-7 0-0 13; Tibbs 2-2 5-6 10; Dixon 3-4 1-2 9; Jones 3-6 0-0 6; Patterson 1-2 0-0 2; Curtis 0-1 0-0 0; Burches 0-1 0-0 0; Ndoumba 0-0 0-0 0; Marks 0-1 0-0 0; Johnson 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 31-51 6-9 78.
Halftime – SLU 41, Lamar 24. 3-point goals - Lamar 2-12 (Lopez 1-1; Harper 1-2; Mathis 0-4; Miles 0-2; Minor 0-1; Custer 0-1; Harris 0-1), SLU 10-18 (Forest 4-8; Hutchin 3-4; Dixon 2-3; Tibbs 1-1; Curtis 0-1; Patterson 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Lamar 34 (Nabors 10), SLU 26 (Sullivan 5). Assists - Lamar 10 (Harris 3), SLU 21 (Patterson 11). Total fouls - Lamar 13, SLU 23. Technical fouls - None. A – 588.
