HAMMOND – Coming off a come-from-behind victory over Sam Houston State in its last game on Thursday, the Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team returns to action when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a Southland Conference battle on Saturday at the University Center.
Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. The game, which will follow the 2 p.m. women's game between Southeastern and A&M-Corpus Christi, can heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), on the internet at www.LionSports.net, along with the KSLU iPhone and TuneIn Radio apps. A live video stream (subscription required), courtesy of LionVision, is available in the Fan Zone on www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern (6-11, 4-3 SLC), which has won four of its last six games, rallied from eight-point deficit to claim a 69-65 victory over SHSU on Thursday behind a game-high 22 points from
Brandon Fortenberry. After an 0-for-5 start from the floor, Fortenberry finished 5-for-7 with three 3-pointers and helped the Lions shoot 65 percent (13-for-20) in the second half.
The senior dished out five assists to increase his career total to 382, passing former teammate
DeShawn Patterson (381, 2008-12) for second place in school history and moving to within 51 of the school record held by Leo McClure (433, 1973-77).
Dre Evans added 12 points for Southeastern while senior
Roosevelt Johnson, who was limited to six minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Fortenberry, who has scored 1,113 points in his career and needs 14 to pass former Lion Thelander Tillman for 11th place on the school's all-time list, leads Southeastern in scoring at 12.9 points per game. Johnson is next in scoring for the Lions at 11.1 points per game while leading the team with 7.7 rebounds.
Evans (9.5 ppg.),
Jeffery Ricard (8.7),
Onochie Ochie (5.8),
Antonnio Benton (5.6) and
Todd Nelson (4.4) are next in scoring for Southeastern. Evans ranks sixth in the Southland Conference in 3-point field goal percentage (40 percent) while Ricard, a former Plaquemine High product, leads the league in free throw percentage (85.1 percent, 40-for-47).
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-15, 1-6 SLC) has lost its last three contests after posting a 62-56 victory at Lamar on Jan. 12. The Islanders opened the season with a 60-49 win over Texas Lutheran before dropping 12 consecutive games, including four-point losses to league rivals SHSU and McNeese State.
In their last game, the Islanders dropped a 69-62 decision at Nicholls State on Thursday after falling behind by 17 points in the second half. Johnathan Jordan scored a team-high 18 points and dished out a game-high five assists for A&M-CC while Will Nelson posted a double-double with 15 points and game-high 11 rebounds.
Nelson leads A&M-CC in scoring (14.0) and is fourth in the Southland Conference in rebounds (7.8). Joy Williamson (9.7 ppg.) and Hameed Ali (7.9) are next in scoring for the Islanders, who average 59.9 points per game.
The meeting will be the eighth between the schools with A&M-CC holding a 5-2 lead in the series. Southeastern claimed last season's contest in the University Center, 67-55, as Patterson scored 14 points to lead four players in double figures.
