Box Score
HAMMOND – Roosevelt Johnson scored a season-high 23 points while recording his sixth double-double of the season with a career-high 19 rebounds as Southeastern Louisiana powered past UT Martin, 64-48, as part of the Sears Bracketbusters on Saturday at the University Center.
Todd Nelson came off the bench to score a season-high 18 points as Southeastern (10-15) improved to 10-3 at home this season.
DeShawn Patterson added 10 points and four assists for the Lions and had three steals to increase his career total to 168 – one shy of the school-record set by Hank Washington from 1990-93.
Southeastern outscored UTM (4-25), 9-0, over the final 3:31 of the first half to break a 22-22 deadlock and take a 31-22 lead at the break. Nelson, who finished 6-for-12 from the floor with four 3-pointers, gave Southeastern a 24-22 lead with a pair of free throws before Johnson scored on a layup after a steal by
Daron Populist.
Nelson added a 3-pointer that gave Southeastern a 29-22 lead with 2:02 left in the half before Johnson tipped in a Patterson miss with 31 seconds remaining to give the Lions a nine-point lead.
Johnson, who finished 11-for-15 from the floor, scored the Lions' first three buckets of the season half as Southeastern pushed its lead to 11. The Skyhawks got as close as 44-37 on a layup by Khristian Taylor with 9:55 remaining, but Nelson answered for the Lions as he drained a 3-pointer and added a layup that gave Southeastern a 49-37 lead at the 8:49 mark.
Southeastern finished 26-for-60 (43.3 percent) from the floor and forced 15 turnovers that led to 19 points. Johnson and
Antonnio Benton blocked three shots each for Southeastern, which recorded seven for the game.
Mike Liabo scored 13 points to lead UTM, which finished 18-for-51 (35.3 percent) from the floor and 1-for-9 from behind the 3-point line. Troy King added 10 points for the Skyhawks, who fell to 0-6 all-time in Hammond, while Pierre Mopo grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Southeastern will return to Southland Conference play on Wednesday when it plays host to Texas State in a 7:05 p.m. contest in the University Center. The game will be televised live on the Southland Conference Television Network.
The game will also be “Take a Kid to the Game” night. For ticket information, visit www.LionSports.net.
UT MARTIN (4-25)
Liabo 5-12 2-2 13; King 3-7 4-7 10; Smith 3-7 3-4 9; Washington 3-8 2-2 8; Taylor 2-4 0-1 4; Richardson 2-6 0-0 4; Mopo 0-2 0-1 0; Minor 0-3 0-0 0; Love 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 11-17 48.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (10-15)
Johnson 11-15 1-2 23; Nelson 6-12 2-2 18; Patterson 4-10 2-2 10; Campbell 1-8 3-4 5; Populist 2-4 0-0 4; Benton 2-6 0-0 4; Ochie 0-0 0-0 0; Petrovcic 0-3 0-2 0; Ross 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 8-12 64.
Halftime – SLU 31, UTM 22. 3-point goals – UTM 1-9 (Liabo 1-4; King 0-2; Washington 0-1; Taylor 0-1; Minor 0-1), SLU 4-13 (Nelson 4-10; Populist 0-2; Benton 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds – UTM 39 (Mopo 8), SLU 36 (Johnson 19). Assists – UTM 9 (Minor 4), SLU 13 (Patterson 4). Total fouls – UTM 15, SLU 17. Technical fouls - None. A – 623.
