Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Brandon Fortenberry scored a season-high 23 points and
Daron Populist hit two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining as Southeastern Louisiana withstood a second-half rally and defeated Louisiana-Monroe, 63-60, in a nonconference game Saturday at the University Center.
Roosevelt Johnson added 20 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as Southeastern (2-1) built a 39-27 halftime lead before ULM (0-4) chipped away in the second half.
“We're still learning and we have some things to do, but we'll take the win against a Sun Belt Conference school,” Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “We can clean things up, and that's the good news. We're not static and we're not going to stand still. We'll get back to work with a short turnaround for Monday against Blue Mountain College.”
The Lions led 47-33 with 12:34 remaining on a layup by Fortenberry before the Warhawks battled back behind a 2-3 zone defense in the final 20 minutes. Trey Lindsey capped a 14-3 run with a pair of free throws with 6:54 left before a free throw by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Fortenberry pushed the Southeastern lead to 54-47.
Michael Harrel hit the second of two free throws with 1:00 remaining that gave Southeastern a 61-56 lead before ULM's Marcelis Hansberry sank a pair of free throws that cut the lead to 61-58 with 34.9 seconds remaining.
The Warhawks got the ball back on a steal by Hansberry and Christian Bibi Ndongo cut the lead to 61-60 with a layup with 23 seconds left. ULM forced a turnover on the next possession, but Hansberry was called for a turnover and the Warhawks were forced to foul.
Populist, who was perfect from the floor and scored a career-high 13 points, gave Southeastern a 63-60 lead and ULM's Fred Brown missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Lions their sixth straight victory over their former Southland Conference rival.
Southeastern went 14-for-25 (56 percent) in the first half as Fortenberry and Johnson combined for 27 of the Lions' 39 points. The Lions used a 9-0 run to snap a 4-4 deadlock as Populist and Fortenberry each drained 3-pointers,
Jan Petrovcic scored on a short jumper and Fortenberry made one of two free throws for a 13-4 lead at the 14:06 mark of the first half.
The Lions used a 7-2 run near the end of the half as two free throws by Johnson along with a layup and 3-pointer by Fortenberry gave Southeastern its biggest lead of the game at 37-23.
Southeastern finished 22-for-44 from the floor, reaching the 50-percent mark for the second consecutive game. The Lions were 8-for-15 from behind the 3-point line with Fortenberry going 4-for-8 while Populist draining all three of his attempts.
Fred Brown led ULM with 16 points while Charles Winborne and Hansberry each came off the bench to add 15 and 11 respectively. The Warhawks finished 25-for-56 (44.6 percent) from the floor, but went 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from behind the 3-point line and were outrebounded, 35-24.
Southeastern will return to action on Monday as it faces NAIA opponent Blue Mountain (Miss.) College in a 7 p.m. contest. Tickets are available by calling the Southeastern Athletic Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or on-line at www.LionSports.net.
LOUISIANA-MONROE (0-4)
Brown 8-18 0-0 16; Winborne 6-12 0-0 15; Hansberry 4-8 2-3 11; McCray 2-5 0-0 5; Bibi Ndongo 2-3 1-2 5; Mackey 1-1 0-0 2; Mingo 1-5 0-0 2; Lindsey 0-3 2-2 2; Ribeiro 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-56 5-7 60.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (2-1)
Fortenberry 9-13 1-4 23; Johnson 7-15 6-8 20; Populist 4-4 2-2 13; Campbell 1-4 1-2 4; Petrovcic 1-3 0-0 2; Harrel 0-0 1-2 1; Patterson 0-2 0-0 0; Benton 0-3 0-0 0; Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 11-18 63.
Halftime – SLU 39, ULM 27. 3-point goals - ULM 5-19 (Winborne 3-6; Hansberry 1-2; McCray 1-4; Mingo 0-2; Lindsey 0-1; Brown 0-4), SLU 8-15 (Fortenberry 4-8; Populist 3-3; Campbell 1-2; Patterson 0-1; Benton 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - ULM 24 (Hansberry 5), SLU 35 (Johnson 8). Assists - ULM 12 (Brown 6), SLU 13 (Patterson 5). Total fouls - ULM 15, SLU 8. Technical fouls - None. A – 877.
