Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Brandon Fortenberry scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures and Southeastern Louisiana pulled away from scrappy Blue Mountain (Miss.) College, 69-50, on Monday at the University Center.
Daron Populist and
Quin Cooper scored 12 points each for Southeastern (3-1) while freshman
Donovan Ross added 10.
Roosevelt Johnson added nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Lions, who will travel to face Western Kentucky on Saturday.
Blue Mountain, an NAIA school, scored the game's first five points as Ethan Ellis scored on a jumper in the lane before Jarvis Fisher drained a 3-pointer. Southeastern answered with a 9-0 run as Populist, who finished 4-for-8 from behind the 3-point line, drained three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Lions the lead for good.
Ross, who finished 5-for-8 from the field and blocked three shots, gave Southeastern an 18-8 lead when he tipped in a
DeShawn Patterson miss. The Toppers got as close as 18-13 on a three-point play by Tyler Shaver, but Southeastern pushed the lead back to double digits when Cooper hit a jumper to give the Lions a 31-21 lead at halftime.
The Toppers never got closer than seven points the rest of the way as Southeastern stretched its lead to 43-26 on a putback by Ross with 14:11 remaining in the game. After a jumper by DeVante' Pulliam cut the Blue Mountain deficit to 51-39, the Lions put the game away with a 13-6 run.
Antonnio Benton capped the final run with a short jumper that gave Southeastern its biggest lead of the game, 64-45.
Fisher led a balanced Blue Mountain attack with nine points while Pulliam added eight. The Toppers committed 17 turnovers that led to a 22-7 advantage for Southeastern.
BLUE MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
Fisher 3-6 0-0 9; Pulliam 3-4 2-4 8; Carnell 2-6 2-4 6; Shaver 1-4 4-5 6; Butler 1-5 2-3 4; Roelfsema 1-3 2-3 4; Harris 2-4 0-0 4; Garrett 1-7 0-0 3; Ellis 1-2 0-0 2; Bingham 1-2 0-1 2; Whitten 1-1 0-0 2; Chatham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 12-20 50.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (3-1)
Fortenberry 5-9 3-3 16; Populist 4-8 0-0 12; Cooper 3-10 4-4 12; Ross 5-8 0-2 10; Johnson 2-6 5-7 9; Benton 3-5 0-0 6; Harrel 1-4 1-2 3; Nelson 0-2 1-2 1; Campbell 0-2 0-0 0; Ochie 0-2 0-0 0; Patterson 0-1 0-0 0; Petrovcic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 14-20 69.
Halftime – SLU 31, BMC 21. 3-point goals – BMC 4-14 (Fisher 3-6; Garrett 1-5; Butler 0-1; Harris 0-1; Bingham 0-1), SLU 9-28 (Populist 4-8; Fortenberry 3-7; Cooper 2-8; Benton 0-1; Harrel 0-1; Nelson 0-2; Ochie 0-1). Fouled out - Johnson. Rebounds – BMC 35 (Garrett 6), SLU 35 (Johnson 11). Assists – BMC 11 (Harris 4), SLU 14 (Cooper 5). Total fouls – BMC 14, SLU 17. Technical fouls - None. A – 475.
