NACOGDOCHES, Texas – After winning four of its last five games, including three straight in Southland Conference play, the Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team heads out on the road for a pair of league games beginning Thursday against Stephen F. Austin at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will follow the Southeastern-SFA women's game. Both games can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), on the internet at www.LionSports.net, the KSLU iPhone app and TuneIn Radio.
Southeastern (5-9, 3-1 SLC) will face two different styles of programs on its two-game road trip beginning with league leader SFA (14-1, 5-0 SLC), the Division I leader in scoring defense allowing 50.0 points per game. After facing the Lumberjacks, Southeastern will travel to face Northwestern State (10-5, 4-1 SLC), the nation's second-highest scoring team in the country (84.3 ppg.), on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Lions earned a 70-65 victory over Nicholls State in their last game on Saturday as
Brandon Fortenberry scored a team-high 21 points.
Roosevelt Johnson posted a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds for Southeastern, which is averaging 61.6 points overall on the season and 70.2 points in Southland Conference play.
Fortenberry, who has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games, leads Southeastern in scoring at 13.4 points per game. Johnson, the team-leader in rebounds (8.2), is Southeastern other player averaging in double figures at 11.3 points per game followed by
Jeffery Ricard (9.4),
Dre Evans (9.3) and
Antonnio Benton (5.7).
SFA has won its last nine games dating back to a 62-54 loss at Texas A&M on Dec. 5. The Lumberjacks opened Southland Conference play with a 67-56 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 29 before posting impressive victories at home against Lamar (79-43) and McNeese State (71-43).
The Lumberjacks, who are averaging 68.0 points per game, picked up road victories last week at Central Arkansas (77-69) and Oral Roberts (61-50).
Taylor Smith leads SFA in scoring (15.3), rebounds (8.7) and blocks (36) while shooting 68.5 percent (100-for-146) from the floor. Antonio Bostic (10.6) is next in scoring for the Lumberjacks with Desmond Haymon (8.9), Jacob Parker (8.6) and Hal Bateman (5.9 points, 100 assists) round out the starting lineup.
SFA leads the all-time series, 25-15, and has won the last four meetings in Nacogdoches. Southeastern's last victory at SFA came in the 2004-05 season when the Lions posted a 52-41 victory on Feb. 19, 2005.
