HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team opens its final home stand of the regular-season on Wednesday when it faces Southland Conference rival McNeese State at the University Center.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.

With its seventh consecutive trip to next week's State Farm Southland Conference Tournament in hand, Southeastern (16-11, 8-6 SLC) looks to close out the regular-season on a positive note as it battles McNeese State (10-18, 5-9) before hosting Northwestern State in the regular-season finale Saturday at noon. The Lions, who are 12-1 at home this season, closed out its road slate with a 65-60 overtime win at Central Arkansas last Saturday behind 17 points from Brandon Fortenberry.

The Lions overcame their poorest shooting performance of the year as they finished 20-for-55 (36.4 percent) from the floor against UCA. Trent Hutchin added 11 points for the Lions while seniors Patrick Sullivan and Robert Tibbs each scored nine points while grabbing 10 rebounds apiece.

Sullivan, who is ninth in school history in scoring (1,215), fourth in rebounds (759) and first in blocked shots (261), leads Southeastern in scoring at 15.5 points per game, rebounds (8.4) and blocked shots (86). The 6-foot-9 senior has played in a school-record 117 games for the Lions and has shot 56 percent from the floor in his career, the fourth-best mark in school history.

Hutchin is next in scoring for the Lions at 10.1 points per game followed by Fortenberry (8.3), Gary Dixon (7.7), Rodney Jones (7.6), Tibbs (5.7) and Deshawn Patterson (5.2).

Southeastern has averaged 72.0 points per game while allowing 65.6. The Lions have paced the Southland Conference in field goal shooting (47.6 percent) while holding opponents to a league-low 39.4 percent from the floor.

McNeese State, which defeated Southeastern, 71-67, in Lake Charles on Jan. 20, kept its postseason hopes alive with a 69-53 win over Nicholls State on Saturday. P.J. Alawoya posted his fourth double-double of the season for the Cowboys with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Diego Kapelan leads the team in scoring with a 13.1 average and is one of the top three point shooters in the nation. Patrick Richard has a 12.7 scoring average and also ranks in the top three on the team in rebounding, assists, blocked shots and steals.

In the earlier meeting with the Lions, Richard had 20 points for the Cowboys while Stephan Martin came off the bench for 19 and Alawoya grabbed 11 rebounds.

Tickets are available by calling the Southeastern Athletic Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or on-line at www.LionSports.net.