Box Score
HAMMOND – Brandon Fortenberry scored a game-high 16 points while
Todd Nelson came off the bench to add 12, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:22 remaining to help Southeastern Louisiana rally from an early 12-point deficit and defeat Southland Conference leader Stephen F. Austin, 54-50, on Saturday at the University Center.
Roosevelt Johnson grabbed 14 rebounds and added a pair of free throws in the final seconds as Southeastern (10-13, 8-5 SLC) held SFA (21-3, 12-2 SLC) to its lowest scoring output of the season, eclipsing the mark of 52 set in the previous meeting between the teams on Jan. 17.
After falling behind 13-0 against Northwestern State in its last game on Thursday, Southeastern fell behind 12-0 against the Lumberjacks before
Roger Woods scored on a short jumper with 14:46 remaining in the first half. SFA led 21-10 after an alley-oop by Jacob Parker with 6:22 remaining, but the Lions closed out the half with an 11-2 run to get to within 23-21 at halftime.
Fortenberry, who finished 5-for-12 from the floor, scored 11 points in the second half as Southeastern shot 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) in the final 20 minutes. His 3-pointer with 18:30 remaining gave the Lions their first lead of the game, 24-23, before SFA's Jared Harrison responded with a 3-pointer to give the Lumberjacks a 26-24 advantage.
SFA erased a 34-32 deficit on a reverse dunk by Taylor Smith, a jumper by Hal Bateman and a layup by Desmond Haymon for a 38-34 lead before the Lions chipped away and forged a 41-41 tie on a Fortenberry layup with 6:42 left.
Both teams traded leads until Nelson, who went 3-for-3 from behind the arc, drained the his final 3-pointer of the night from the right corner that gave Southeastern a 48-45 lead it would not relinquish. A free throw by Bateman got SFA to within 48-46, but Southeastern would make six free throws in the final 2:33 to salvage its first victory in six games this season against the league's top three teams - SFA, Northwestern State and Oral Roberts.
Southeastern finished 17-for-38 (44.7 percent) from the floor, 4-for-9 from behind the 3-point line and 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Bateman led SFA with 15 points while Smith, the national leader in field goal percentage (70.9 percent), added 12 points on 5-for-6 aim. Smith added 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season while blocking three shots to increase his league-leading total to 75.
Southeastern will play its next four games on the road beginning Tuesday when it travels to Lake Charles to visit McNeese State in a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Lions will face Big South Conference Winthrop on Feb. 23 in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters before facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 28) and Sam Houston State (March 2) before hosting McNeese State on March 7.
