BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Two seniors who were limited to two games in 2016-17 due to injuries were instrumental in Southeastern Louisiana's 77-71 win over Samford in the Savannah Invitational Friday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.

    Forward Jordan Capps and guard Joshua Filmore each tossed in 19 points while Fimore added a team-high five rebounds for Southeastern (3-3). Junior guard Marlain Veal recorded his second career double-double, tying a career high with 10 assists while adding 14 points. The Lions shot 48.3 percent, including 55.2 percent in the second half. Southeastern also shot 40 percent on a season-high 12 3-pointers, led by five by Filmore.

    Demetrius Denzel-Dyson had a game-high 23 points, 18 coming in the first half, for Samford (1-5). Justin Coleman contributed 15 points, Alex Thompson 12 and Eric Adams 10. Christen Cunningham had team highs with nine assists and eight rebounds. The Bulldogs shot 40.6 percent while out-rebounding Southeastern 33-30.

    Filmore gave the Lions the lead for good at 63-61 with a layup with 3:34 remaining. Senior guard Eddy Polanco knocked down a 3 to make it 66-61. After Adams trimmed the lead to three with a dunk, Veal hit a 3 and Capps added a dunk for a 71-65 lead with 42 seconds left.

    Thompson buried a 3 to pull Samford to within three again with 31 seconds left. After Polanco and Cunningham traded layups, Filmore hit two free throws with 9 seconds remaining. Filmore then sealed the game with a steal, feeding senior forward James Currington for a dunk at the buzzer.

    Samford took a 37-34 lead at the half. Southeastern tied it at 47 on a Capps 3 with 15:14 left, then took its first lead on a free throw by junior guard Keith Charleston at the 14:31 mark. Filmore followed with a pair of 3s to give the Lions their biggest lead at 54-47 with 12:57 remaining.

    The Bulldogs used a 12-5 run to tie the game at 59 on a Coleman layup with 5:04 left. After a layup by Currington, Denzel-Dyson tied it for the final time at 61 at the 4:17 mark.

    Samford jumped out to a 9-0 lead on a Denzel-Dyson 3 at the 17:59 mark. Southeastern countered with nine straight points to tie the game on a 3 by Veal with 15:23 left. Denzel-Dyson put the Bulldogs back up with a 3 on their ensuing possession.

    A layup by Denzel-Dyson extended Samford's lead to 23-17 with 8:58 remaining. A 3 by Charleston and a Singleton layup kept Southeastern within 3 before a Cunningham layup and two Thompson free throws to take a 34-25 lead with 3:10 left.

    Capps came back with a 3 and a dunk and Filmore buried a 3 to cut the margin to 34-31 with 1:17 left. A 3 by Denzel-Dyson helped the Bulldogs go up 37-34 at the break.
 
NOTES:
   Southeastern has won two straight for the first time since taking three straight from Jan. 12-21, 2017.
   Southeastern had a season-high 20 assists while tying a season low with 14 turnovers.
 
   The Lions' bench out-scored Samford's, 43-5.
 
   Filmore scored his most points since pouring in 20 at Georgia Tech on Dec. 21, 2015.
 
   Veal also had 10 assists at Northwestern State on Feb. 16, 2017. He moved into a tie with former teammate Zay Jackson (2014-16) for seventh place on the Lions' career list with 273 assists. He also tied Troy Green (1995-99) for fourth with 114 steals.
  
   The meeting between the former Trans-America Athletic Conference rivals was the first since Southeastern left the conference following the 1996-97 season. Samford leads the series 9-6.
           
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
On rallying in the second half…
    "Certainly really proud that we won. We played a team that can really shoot the basketball. Denzel-Dyson, we really just didn't have an answer for. He ended up with 23 points and he was 9-of-10 from the field. But where I thought we did a much better job was not letting him get shot attempts in the second half. I thought that was the difference, that we were able to hold him to five (points) in the second because if he got the shot off, he wasn't missing much. Defensively, I thought we did a better job in the second half overall."
 
On the key performances…
   "It was great to see Josh Filmore and Jordan Capps, two guys coming off serious injuries, have good games for us. I thought Jabbar Singleton did a great job defensively in the second half on Denzel-Dyson. Marlain had 10 assists and anytime you have a guard do that and score the ball, it's huge."
 
On Mississippi Valley State…
   "Don't let their record fool you. They are very similar to us in that they spend most of their non-conference schedule on the road against some very, very good teams and they have hung in there with everybody they've played. They will be fresh and we will have played three games in five days so we're going to have our hands full. My concern is that coming off such a hard-fought, emotional-type game today, what we will have in the tank tomorrow? We have to get back up quick."
 
UP NEXT:
   Southeastern closes out the tournament against Mississippi Valley State (0-5) Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center.