HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana closes out the first half of Southland Conference play at Sam Houston State Saturday at 6:15 p.m. in the Bernard B. Johnson Coliseum.

    Southeastern (12-9, 5-3 Southland) had its 16-game home winning streak snapped by Northwestern State, 85-71, on Wednesday. The Lions could not overcome a 13-point second-half deficit in having a three-game overall win streak ended.

    Southeastern will look to bounce back against the hottest team in the Southland. Sam Houston (15-6, 6-2 Southland) has won six straight since dropping its first two conference games and is coming off a 76-62 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last Saturday.

    The Bearkats have won 13 of the past 15 meetings with the Lions, including the past five. Southeastern's last win against the Bearkats was a 69-65 victory in Hammond on Jan. 24, 2013. The Lions have dropped five straight in Huntsville since taking a 61-58 win on Jan. 9, 2008. Sam Houston is 14-5 at home against the Lions all-time and is 10-1 in Johnson Coliseum in 2016-17.

    But Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner knows his team will have a chance against the Bearkats if it gets back to playing how it did during its latest three-game win streak.

    "They were picked as the preseason favorite to win it and they have two losses," Ladner said of Sam Houston following Wednesday's game "It's (the conference race) anybody's deal. What we have to do is get back to how we were playing and not let this (the Northwestern State loss) be a hangover to us. There is nothing wrong with our team that can't be fixed. We didn't run off three in a row and suddenly forget how to play."

    Saturday's game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. Links to live video and live stats, provided by Sam Houston, will be accessible on the men's basketball schedule page at LionSports.net.

     In Wednesday's game, junior guard Davon Hayes led Southeastern with 13 points while junior forward James Currington added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. Sophomore guard Dimi Cook tossed in a season-high 11 points while sophomore forward Moses Greenwood and junior forward Eddy Polanco each had 10. The Lions shot 46.8 percent from the field, and were held to a season-low 23 rebounds.

    Southeastern goes into Saturday's game averaging 72.5 points per game on 45.7 percent shooting. The Lions continue to rank second in the conference in both scoring defense (69.1 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (43.3 percent). Southeastern is also averaging 35.9 boards while allowing 32.7.

    Sophomore guard Marlain Veal leads the team with 13.2 points per game while ranking fifth in the conference in assists (4.2 apg) and 12th in steals (1.6 spg). Greenwood is averaging 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds while ranking fifth in the league in field goal percentage (.568). Hayes is scoring 12.6 points per game while Currington (8.8 ppg) has taken over the team's rebounding lead with 7.3 boards per contest. Junior guard Jabbar Singleton (4.7 ppg, 61 assists) has started all 21 games for Southeastern.

    Sam Houston, meanwhile, is the third-leading scoring team in the conference, averaging 77.2 points on 45.4 percent from the field. The Bearkats take care of the basketball, leading the Southland is assist/turnover ratio (1.2) while ranking second in assists (16.4 apg) and turnover margin (plus-3.19).

    Defensively, SHSU is holding opponents to a league-low 41.6 percent from the field while allowing an average of 71.2 points per game. The Bearkats are also leading the league in forcing 17.1 turnovers a game.

    SHSU is second in the conference with 38.5 rebounds per contest while allowing 34.8, ranking fourth in rebounding margin (plus-3.7).

    Senior guard Dakarai Henderson leads a trio of Bearkats averaging in double figures with 10.9 points per game. Senior forward Aurimas Majauskas is third in the Southland in field goal percentage (.593) while averaging 10.3 points.

    Sophomore guard John Dewey III earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 assists in wins over Lamar and TAMCC. He leads the conference with 5.5 assists while averaging 8.8 points a contest.

    Senior forward Torrey Butler is pulling down a team-best 6.7 rebounds while averaging 7.8 points. Senior guard Paul Baxter (7.4 ppg, 38 assists, 25 steals) is also projected to start.

    Majauskas had a team-high 21 points and eight rebounds against TAMCC. Dewey scored 19 points and added five assists while Henderson contributed 10 points. SHSU shot 56.5 percent from the field while holding Corpus Christi to 38.2 percent.

    Southeastern returns home to play Nicholls Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the University Center.