Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Brandon Fortenberry scored 14 points and Southeastern Louisiana held Nicholls State to 36 percent shooting as the Lions claimed a 50-43 win in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday at the University Center.
Jason Marks and
Jeremy Campbell added seven points each as Southeastern (15-13, 9-7 SLC) clinched its seventh winning season in the last eight years. The Lions, who clinched a berth in the 2011 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament that begins Wednesday in Katy, Texas, will be the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4-seeded Texas State (15-15) at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Fortenberry and
Roosevelt Johnson scored four points each in a 9-0 second half run that helped the Lions pull away from Nicholls (14-13, 8-8 SLC) and claim its 47th win in the 86-game series that began in the 1959-60 season. Fortenberry tipped in a missed Johnson attempt that gave Southeastern a 36-25 lead with 10:48 remaining before
Gary Dixon answered a Colonel bucket with a 3-pointer for a 39-27 lead with 10:12 remaining.
Nicholls chipped away at the lead, closing to 41-38 on a pair of free throws by Ben Martin with 5:28 to play, but Southeastern scored the next four points as Fortenberry and Dixon scored on short baskets for a 45-38 lead.
The Colonels opened the game on a 5-0 run as Justin Ayers hit a 3-pointer and layup before Southeastern got on the board on a bucket by
Trent Hutchin with 16:41 remaining in the first half. A bucket by Dantrell Thomas, who scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting, gave Nicholls State a 12-7 lead before two free throws and a three-point play by Marks tied the game at 12-12 with 8:09 left in the first half.
Consecutive three-point plays by Campbell gave Southeastern a 22-17 lead and the Lions led, 23-21, at the break.
Southeastern limited Anatoly Bose, the Southland Conference's leading scorer (22.2 points), to 15 points on 4-for-17 shooting. The Lions yielded their fewest points of the season while holding Nicholls to its lowest output of the season and nearly 24 points below their season average.
NICHOLLS STATE (14-13, 8-8 SLC)
Bose 4-18 6-7 15; Thomas 5-5 0-1 10; Martin 2-2 2-2 8; Ayers 3-9 0-1 7; Franklin 1-5 0-0 2; Carter 0-2 1-1 1; Talkington 0-0 0-0 0; Moore 0-0 0-0 0; Hammond 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-42 9-12 43.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (15-13, 9-7 SLC)
Fortenberry 4-10 5-6 14; Campbell 2-2 3-4 7; Marks 2-3 3-3 7; Dixon 2-6 1-2 6; Patterson 2-7 2-2 6; Johnson 1-4 3-5 5; Hutchin 1-3 0-0 2; Benton 1-1 0-0 2; Ndoumba 0-5 1-2 1. Totals 15-41 18-24 50.
Halftime – SLU 23, Nicholls State 21. 3-point goals - Nicholls State 4-14 (Martin 2-2; Ayers 1-4; Bose 1-6; Franklin 0-2), SLU 2-11 (Fortenberry 1-4; Dixon 1-5; Patterson 0-1; Hutchin 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Nicholls State 25 (Bose 6), SLU 33 (Ndoumba 9). Assists - Nicholls State 8 (Three with 2), SLU 11 (Fortenberry 4). Total fouls - Nicholls State 18, SLU 15. Technical fouls - None. A – 623.
