Box Score

Box Score

HAMMOND – Deshawn Patterson tied a career-high with 21 points while teammate Trent Hutchin also added 21 as Southeastern Louisiana overcame shaky free throw shooting late and held off McNeese State, 80-77, in a Southland Conference game Wednesday at the University Center.

Patterson, Brandon Fortenberry and Gary Dixon each made free throws in the final 25 seconds as Southeastern (8-7, 2-1 Southland) used a 42-13 run midway through the game to pull away before overcoming a 1-for-8 stretch at the free throw line in a one-minute span that helped allow McNeese State (11-6, 3-1 Southland) to cut a 27-point deficit to 75-72.

“We've been a pretty good free throw shooting team all year, but it was a very odd last five minutes with a huge delay,” Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “We just went ice cold mentally, physically, offensively, defensively. Everything we did was just flat and we gave a very good McNeese State team all the momentum back.

“I don't want to dampen an otherwise awesome performance. For 35 minutes we played great basketball. Our guys took it as a personal challenge in defending them. We did a good job of mixing some zone and man-to-man, but our guys felt we could guard them in man and did an excellent job.”

McNeese State took a 14-13 lead on a steal and layup by P.J. Alawoya and extended its cushion to 21-14 when Diego Kapelan converted on a four-point play with 10:47 left in the first half.

The Lions whittled away at the lead beginning with a bucket by Rodney Jones with 10:14 remaining before taking a 28-27 lead on a layup by Patterson, who went 7-for-13 from the floor while adding five assists and three steals.

Southeastern closed out the first half with a 15-4 run capped by a jumper at the buzzer by Roosevelt Johnson that put the Lions ahead, 43-31, at halftime and increased their lead to 56-34 on a putback by Jason Marks with 14:45 remaining.

After Johnson made one of two free throws that gave Southeastern its largest lead of the game – 65-38 – with 10:01 left, McNeese State began to chip away at the lead and held the Lions without a field goal for the final 5:49.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Patrick Richard and C.J. Collins turned a 69-52 contest to 69-58 and the Cowboys cut the lead to single digits with 1:53 left when Richard put back a missed 3-pointer by Kapelan that got McNeese State to within 71-62.

Southeastern missed five straight free throws in a 37-second span before Marks made one of two to give the Lions a 72-62 lead with 1:25 left. Richard and Collins added layups for the Cowboys and Kapelan would later add a layup that got McNeese State to 75-72 with 26 seconds left.

Patterson made one of two free throws on the Lions' ensuing possession before getting a key steal which allowed Fortenberry to sink a pair of free throws that put Southeastern ahead 78-72 with 15 seconds left.

Collins, who scored a team-high 21 points for McNeese State, added a pair of free throws and drained a 3-pointer for the final margin with two seconds left and Southeastern was able to run out the clock.

David Ndoumba added nine points, pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and blocked three shots to lead Southeastern, which shot 50 percent (28-for-56) from the field but went 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from the free throw line.

Kapelan added 19 points for McNeese State while Richard notched a double-double with 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Alawoya added 11 points for the Cowboys, who finished 24-for-60 (40 percent) from the floor and outscored Southeastern, 46-37, in the second half.

Southeastern will return to action on Saturday when it travels to face in-state rival Nicholls State in a 3:30 p.m. contest at Stopher Gym.

MCNEESE STATE (11-6, 3-1 SOUTHLAND)
Collins 6-11 5-6 21; Kapelan 5-13 7-7 19; P. Richard 6-11 5-6 18; Alawoya 5-6 1-1 11; Martin 1-12 3-4 5; D. Richard 1-1 1-2 3; David 0-0 0-1 0; Queen 0-0 0-0 0; Konate 0-1 0-0 0; Fields 0-1 0-0 0; Regis 0-1 0-0 0; Cannon 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 22-27 77.

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (8-7, 2-1 SOUTHLAND)
Patterson 7-13 5-9 21; Hutchin 8-15 0-0 21; Ndoumba 4-8 1-4 9; Marks 3-3 1-2 7; Johnson 2-4 3-6 7; Dixon 0-2 5-8 5; Fortenberry 1-5 2-4 4; Jones 2-4 0-0 4; Harrel 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 28-56 17-33 80.

Halftime – SLU 43, McNeese State 31. 3-point goals - McNeese State 7-24 (Collins 4-5; Kapelan 2-8; P. Richard 1-3; Konate 0-1; Regis 0-1; Cannon 0-1; Martin 0-5), SLU 7-24 (Hutchin 5-11; Patterson 2-5; Dixon 0-2; Fortenberry 0-4; Jones 0-2). Fouled out - Alawoya, Martin. Rebounds - McNeese State 42 (P. Richard 16), SLU 35 (Ndoumba 8). Assists - McNeese State 9 (Four with 2), SLU 23 (Hutchin, Patterson 5). Total fouls - McNeese State 29, SLU 24. Technical fouls – P. Richard, Ndoumba. A – 1,626.