Box Score THIBODAUX – Brandon Fortenberry tied a career-high with 30 points and Southeastern Louisiana used a dominating 20-2 run over a nine-minute span in the first half to take an 18-point lead and defeat Nicholls State, 73-62, in a Southland Conference game Saturday afternoon at Stopher Gym.
Dre Evans added 12 points for Southeastern (9-12, 7-4 SLC) while
Roosevelt Johnson added 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to lead the Lions to a season sweep of Nicholls State (6-15, 5-6 SLC).
Fortenberry, who finished 10-for-17 from the floor and 5-for-8 from behind the 3-point line, tied his career-scoring best that was set at Northwestern State on Feb. 12, 2011. The fifth-year senior's five 3-pointers also tied a career-best that was set last month in a victory over Central Arkansas.
Fred Hunter, the Southland Conference's leading scorer (19.3 ppg.) entering the game, tied the contest at 9-9 with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 14:43 remaining, but the Colonels would not make another bucket until Amin Torres hit a jumper with 4:54 remaining in the first half.
A basket by Southeastern's
Onochie Ochie with 12:03 remaining in the first half snapped the deadlock and began an 11-0 run as Fortenberry sank three free throws,
Todd Nelson scored on a backdoor layup, Johnson added a bucket and Evans scored on a layup that gave the Lions a 20-9 lead.
After a pair of free throws by Nicholls State's Shane Rillieux got the Colonels to within 20-11 with 8:49 remaining, Fortenberry began a 9-0 run for the Lions with five consecutive points, including a 3-pointer, before buckets by
Antonnio Benton and
Roger Woods pushed the Southeastern lead to 29-11 with 5:11 remaining.
Trailing 38-22 at halftime, the Colonels chipped away at the lead in the second half, twice getting to within six points. A 3-pointer by Torres with 11:15 remaining closed the gap to 55-49 before Fortenberry answered with a 3-pointer for the Lions. Dantrell Thomas connected on a 3-pointer on the Colonels' next possession before Fortenberry answered again with a 3-pointer that gave Southeastern a 61-52 lead.
Nicholls State got as close at 61-54 on a basket by T.J. Carpenter with 9:26 remaining, but Southeastern scored the next eight points to pull away as Fortenberry scored five points, including a 3-pointer while Evans scored on a layup and added a free throw that gave the Lions a 69-54 lead with 6:45 left.
Southeastern, which earned its second season-sweep of its archrival since the 2009-10 season, finished 29-for-64 (45.3 percent) from the floor and 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc. The Lions held a 44-32 advantage on the boards as Fortenberry and Benton grabbed each seven.
Hunter led Nicholls State with 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds. The fifth-year senior finished 6-for-9 from the floor and 7-for-7 from the free throw line, but was forced to the bench with 8:20 remaining in the first half after drawing his second personal foul.
Thomas added 15 points for the Colonels while Torres came off the bench to add 13. The Colonels finished 20-for-57 (35.1 percent) from the floor in game after going 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) in the opening half. Carpenter grabbed a game-high 11 boards for the Colonels while Hunter pulled down nine.
Southeastern will return to action on Thursday when it hosts in-state rival and NCAA Division I scoring leader Northwestern State in a 7:15 p.m. contest.
