HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana could not overcome a 13-point second-half deficit as Northwestern State ended the Lions' 16-game home winning streak with an 85-71 Southland Conference victory Wednesday night in the University Center.
Southeastern (12-9, 5-3 Southland) cut the deficit to three with 10 minutes left but could not overtake the Demons (9-9, 3-4) in suffering its first at home since a 75-71 setback to Incarnate Word on Jan. 16, 2016. The Lions also had a three-game overall winning streak snapped.
Junior guard Davon Hayes led Southeastern with 13 points. Junior forward James Currington and sophomore guard Dimi Cook both had 11 points while sophomore forward Moses Greenwood and junior forward Eddy Polanco each had 10. Currington had a team-high six rebounds. The Lions shot 46.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent on 3s and 67.6 percent from the line.
Rebounds were a key as NSU held the Lions to a season-low 23 rebounds while grabbing 39. Jordan Bell led the way with 12 rebounds while scoring 18 points. Devonte Hall had a game-high 28 points while Sabri Thompson had 14. The Demons shot 50.9 percent from the field and 80.6 percent from the line.
"We didn't play with energy and effort and just got worn out on the boards, 39-23," Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner said. "We've been a strong rebounding team and knew they were a strong rebounding team. Any time a team that has been playing well like we had and played like we did tonight, that's on me. I want to give Northwestern credit. I'm not surprised and I certainly expected it and we tried to make sure our players understood what type of game it was going to be. We just never got into any type of rhythm offensively and we didn't guard like we normally guard and all that added up."
Southeastern led 37-35 at break before NSU went up 41-39 on a layup by Iziahiah Sweeney at the 18:12 mark. Sophomore guard Marlain Veal drove in for a layup to tie it at 43 with 17 minutes left, but that would be the Lions' last field goal for the next 4:03 as the Demons went on a 13-0 run.
Bell scored the first eight points of the surge on two 3-pointers and a jumper. Another 3 by Thompson put the Demons up 56-43 at the 14:11 mark.
Southeastern countered with a 9-0 run of its own, keyed by Veal who scored the first five points. Currington then put back a missed free throw by Veal and senior center Dominic Nelson hooked in a shot to cut the deficit to 56-52 with 12 minutes left.
NSU went back up by eight on two Hall free throws at the 10:55 mark. Polanco answered with a 3, then hit two free throws to make it 60-57 with 9:59 left. The Lions had a chance to pull closer when freshman guard Michael Corchiani knocked the ball away from Thompson near midcourt. But Thompson was able to recover, then knocked in a 3 to extend the lead to 63-57 with 9:03 remaining.
Southeastern would get to within 68-64 on a 3 by Cook with 6:55 left. But NSU went on a 7-0 run to build the lead back to 75-64 on two Hall free throws at the 4:13 mark. The Lions would not get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
Ishmael Lane spun inside to give NSU a 6-1 lead with 17:56 left in the opening half. Southeastern answered with a 13-4 run, tying the game at 8 as Veal lofted a pass inside to Greenwood at the 15:56 mark. Two free throws by Cook gave the Lions a 14-10 lead with 12:28 remaining.
A Sweeney layup and Lane layup put the Demons back up 17-16 at the 9:33 mark. Hayes came back from a 3 from the left corner to give Southeastern a 20-17 lead. After a Tra'von Joseph jumper made it 21-20 NSU, Hayes drove in for a layup, then hit another jumper while falling to the floor to put the Lions ahead 26-21 with 6:09 left.
Bell tapped in a rebound to cut the deficit to 28-27 with 5:07 remaining. After a Polanco 3 made it 33-29, Hall tossed in another rebound to tie it at 33 at the 1:49 mark. Currington responded with a putback and Hayes hit two free throws as the Lions took a 37-35 halftime lead.
Southeastern closes out the first half of conference play at Sam Houston State Saturday at 6:15 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas.
NORTHWESTERN STATE 85, SOUTHEASTERN LA. 71
NORTHWESTERN STATE (9-9, 3-4 SLC)
Hall, Devonte 7-12 14-17 28; Bell, Jordan 7-13 2-2 18; Thompson, Sabri 5-10 2-2 14; Lane, Ishmael 2-7 5-6 9; Sweeney, Iziahiah 4-6 0-2 8; Joseph, Tra'von 2-4 0-0 4; Hamilton, Tanner 1-1 0-0 2; Kissoonlal, Reginald 0-2 2-2 2; Walker, Bailey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 25-31 85.
SOUTHEASTERN LA. (12-9, 5-3 SLC)
Hayes, Davon 3-10 6-9 13; Currington, James 5-10 1-2 11; Cook, Dimi 1-2 8-8 11; Greenwood, Moses 4-9 2-3 10; Polanco, Eddy 3-5 2-5 10; Veal, Marlain 3-6 3-5 9; Nelson, Dominic 2-2 1-2 5; Singleton, Jabbar 1-2 0-0 2; Brock, George 0-0 0-0 0; Corchiani, Michael 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 23-34 71.
Northwestern State............ 35 50 - 85
Southeastern La............... 37 34 - 71
3-point goals--Northwestern State 4-19 (Bell, Jordan 2-5; Thompson, Sabri 2-6; Sweeney, Iziahiah 0-2; Joseph, Tra'von 0-1; Kissoonlal, Reginald 0-1; Hall, Devonte 0-4), Southeastern La. 4-12 (Polanco, Eddy 2-3; Cook, Dimi 1-2; Hayes, Davon 1-5; Singleton, Jabbar 0-1; Corchiani, Michael 0-1). Fouled out--Northwestern State-None, Southeastern La.-Currington, James. Rebounds--Northwestern State 39 (Bell, Jordan 12), Southeastern La. 23 (Currington, James 6). Assists--Northwestern State 8 (Hall, Devonte 2; Joseph, Tra'von 2), Southeastern La. 15 (Corchiani, Michael 4). Total fouls--Northwestern State 24, Southeastern La. 21. Technical fouls--Northwestern State-None, Southeastern La.-TEAM. A-1241.
Loss snaps Southeastern's 16-game home winning streak
