Box Score
THIBODAUX – Todd Nelson scored a season-high 19 points to lead four players in double figures and Southeastern Louisiana used suffocating defense to defeat arch-rival Nicholls State, 68-58, in a Southland Conference game Saturday afternoon at Stopher Gym.
Roosevelt Johnson recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds while
Elgin Bailey and
Jeremy Campbell scored 12 points each for Southeastern (12-17, 5-11 SLC) in its season finale. Nicholls State, which will face top-seeded UT Arlington in the Southland Conference Tournament that begins Wednesday in Katy, Texas, fell to 10-19 overall and 6-10 in league play.
After a season in which leading scorer
Brandon Fortenberry was lost for the season to a foot injury on Dec. 11 and five losses by three points or less, Southeastern saved its best for the final week of the season in ending its season on a two-game winning streak for the first time since the 1992-93 campaign. After a 64-57 against McNeese State on Wednesday, the Lions held Nicholls State to 20-for-58 (34.5 percent) from the floor in the game and an anemic 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
Southeastern, which recorded a season-high for points in road games and finished 24-for-45 (53.3 percent) from the floor, took nearly four minutes to get on the board before two free throws by Bailey with 16:07 left in the first half tied the game at 2-2.
That started a 10-0 run by the Lions as a jumper by Nelson with 12:19 left gave Southeastern a 10-2 lead. Nelson, who finished 6-for-9 from the floor with four 3-pointers, gave the Lions a 24-9 lead with 6:04 remaining in the half when he drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Southeastern, which went 13-for-21 (61.9 percent) from the floor in the second half, pushed its lead to as many as 23 points in the second half as a layup by Johnson gave the Lions a 49-26 lead with 11:20 remaining.
Nicholls State chipped away at the lead behind a pair of off-balanced 3-pointers by Chris Talkington and solid play by freshman Shane Rillieaux. The Colonels got as close as 63-55 as Rillieaux converted on a three-point play with 43 seconds left, but the Lions made five throws down the stretch to seal the win.
The game marked the final appearances for Bailey, a Mississippi State transfer, and Houma native
DeShawn Patterson, who played at nearby Vandebilt Catholic. Patterson, the school's all-time leader with 175 steals in his career, dished out a game-high six assists for the Lions to finish second in school history with 381.
Antonnio Benton added eight points off the bench for Southeastern, which returns 11 players (including Fortenberry) to next year's roster.
Rillieaux led Nicholls State with 15 points while Dantrell Thomas came off the bench to score 13. Bryan Hammond added nine points for Nicholls State while Sam McBeath added seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds for the Colonels.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (12-17, 5-11 SLC)
Nelson 6-9 3-5 19; Johnson 5-8 4-6 14; Campbell 5-11 2-4 12; Bailey 5-7 2-2 12; Benton 2-3 4-4 8; Populist 1-1 0-0 3; Cooper 0-2 0-0 0; Patterson 0-4 0-1 0. Totals 24-45 15-22 68.
NICHOLLS STATE (10-19, 6-10 SLC)
Rillieux 5-10 5-7 15; Thomas 5-12 2-5 13; Hammond 3-5 2-3 9; McBeath 2-7 3-3 7; Talkington 2-13 0-0 6; Smith 2-6 0-0 4; Smith-Hyde 1-1 0-0 2; Lewis 0-4 2-2 2; Bailey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 14-20 58.
Halftime – SLU 30, Nicholls State 18. 3-point goals – SLU 5-12 (Nelson 4-7; Populist 1-1; Benton 0-1; Cooper 0-2; Patterson 0-1), Nicholls State 4-22 (Talkington 2-10; Hammond 1-3; Thomas 1-2; Lewis 0-1; Smith 0-2; McBeath 0-3; Rillieux 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds – SLU 34 (Johnson 12), Nicholls State 30 (McBeath 11). Assists – SLU 16 (Patterson 6), Nicholls State 8 (Rillieux, Thomas 2). Total fouls – SLU 16, Nicholls State 21. Technical fouls - None. A – 686.
