HAMMOND, La. – An excellent defensive effort allowed the Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball team to earn a hard-fought 59-53 exhibition victory over a game LSU-Alexandria squad Wednesday night in the University Center.
The Lions finished their exhibition slate with a 2-0 record. Southeastern held the Generals to 28.8 percent (19-for-66) shooting from the field and forced 17 turnovers. Sophomore guard
Marlain Veal led the SLU defensive effort with five steals.
"We were extremely pleased with the defensive effort against a LSU-Alexandria team that has a ton of Division I-caliber talent," Southeastern head coach Jay Lander said. "Marlain and (junior wing) Davon (Hayes) did an excellent job locking down their guards and I thought our bigs played well against a front line that was very comparable to what we'll see in Southland Conference play."
The defensive performance was key to support a balanced, but uneven offensive effort from the Lions. Hayes led Southeastern with 11 points and Veal joined him in double figures with 10, but SLU shot just 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the floor.
"As pleased as we were with our defense, offensively we have some work to do," Ladner commented. "We have to do a better moving the ball and our shot selection must improve. We took some shots tonight that you won't see us take (when the season opens)."
Southeastern built a 35-25 halftime lead, limiting LSU-Alexandria to 9-for-34 shooting in the initial 20 minutes. Veal's eight points in the opening half keyed the double-digit lead, but LSU-A junior forward Brandon Moss, who finished the contest with a game-high 21 points and 17 rebounds, scored nine in the first half to keep the Generals within striking distance.
Both defenses stepped up after the break, as SLU briefly pushed the lead to 13 points, but LSU-A steadily chipped away to cut the lead to 44-39 on a Moss jumper with 12:31 remaining.
Southeastern maintained the lead, but LSU-A senior center Gilbert Talbot hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to 50-48 with just under three minutes remaining.
On the ensuing possession, Hayes drew a foul and connected on both free throws. After a steal on the other, Hayes put back a miss by junior forward
James Currington and stretched the lead to 54-48 with 2:19 remaining. The Generals would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Southeastern will official open the 2016-17 on Friday, Nov. 11, hosting Millsaps for a 7 p.m. non-conference contest in the University Center. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at
www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream of the opener at
www.LionSports.net/watch.
LSU-Alexandria 53
Ellis 2-3 0-0 5, Smith 0-7 1-2 1, Register 1-11 2-2 5, Talbot 0-1 4-8 4, Sylvester 3-9 1-4 7, Thomas Jr. 0-2 0-0 0, Goodwin 0-3 0-0 0, Moss 9-18 3-4 21, Williams 4-11 0-0 10, Savoy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-66 11-20 53.
Southeastern Louisiana 59
Capps 4-11 0-0 8, Nelson 2-3 1-3 5, Veal 3-10 3-7 10, Hayes 3-12 4-6 11, Singleton 1-4 7-9 9, Cook 0-3 0-2 0, Polanco 2-3 0-0 5, Greenwood 2-3 1-2 5, Currington 3-9 0-0 6. Totals 20-58 16-29 59.
Halftime – SLU 35, LSU-A 25. 3-point goals – LSU-A 4-25 (Williams 2-7, Register 1-8, Ellis 1-2, Moss 0-4, Smith 0-2, Savoy 0-1), SLU 3-12 (Veal 1-5, Hayes 1-3, Polanco 1-1, Capps 0-1). Technical Fouls – Veal. Fouled Out – Talbot, Williams, Capps. Rebounds – LSU-A 49 (Moss 17), SLU 44 (Capps 7). Assists – LSU-A 7 (Moss 3), SLU 8 (Veal 4). Total Fouls – LSU-A 25, SLU 17. A – 777.
