NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Southeastern Louisiana hung with Notre Dame for the first 22 minutes Thursday night but an 18-0 run by the Fighting Irish allowed them to pull away to an 86-50 non-conference victory in Purcell Pavilion.
A layup by senior forward
Jordan Capps kept Southeastern (6-7) within 41-33 with 17:38 remaining. But the Lions would not score again until junior guard
Keith Charleston hit two free throws with 12:29 left. Notre Dame (10-3) took advantage, going up 59-33 on a Matt Farrell jumper with 12:46 left.
Capps finished with a team-high 17 points and two blocks. Junior forward
Moses Greenwood added eight points while senior forward
James Currington, junior guard
Marlain Veal and senior guard
Eddy Polanco had six apiece. Veal also had team highs with seven rebounds and four assists. The Lions shot a season-low 29.9 percent overall, 22.2 percent in the second half, in matching its lowest scoring output of the season.
Notre Dame had four players finish in double figures, led by T.J. Gibbs with 18 points and five assists. Farrell and Rex Pflueger had 17 apiece. Bonzie Colson had his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Martinas Geben also had 10 rebounds as the Irish out-rebounded the Lions, 47-43, while shooting 43.5 percent overall.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-0 lead on a Colson jumper at the 17:28 mark and led 18-7 after Gibbs took a steal in with 13:46 left. Polanco hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to pull Southeastern to within 18-13 with 12:46 remaining. The Irish countered with a 7-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 28-15 on a Pflueger 3 with 8:01 left.
A 3 by Veal at the 7:14 mark started an 11-2 run for the Lions. Capps went in for a layup, Currington and senior guard
Joshua Filmore hit jumpers and Capps scored following a steal by Currington to make it 30-26 with 3:17 left in the half. Pflueger and Farrell came back with 3s as Notre Dame took a 37-29 lead at the break.
Pflueger jump-started the second-half run for the Irish with a 3 at the 17:38 mark. Southeastern went 0-for-11 from the field during the stretch.
NOTES
Southeastern's five free throws made and .417 (5-of-12) free throw percentage were both season lows.
The Lions committed a season-low 11 fouls while the 19 fouls combined were the fewest in a Southeastern game this year.
Notre Dame's 69 field goal attempts, 19 free throws made, 47 rebounds and 10 blocks were season highs by a Southeastern opponent in 2017.
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
"Clearly the better team won. I thought our guys did a good job of battling back. We had a quick turnaround from the UL Lafayette game (Tuesday) and had a long travel day yesterday. I thought we got off a bit of a slow start but I was proud of the way we battled back and made a game of it. We were down four right there and I thought we were fixing to make a go of it. We started slow again in the second half and they just kind of overwhelmed us and it got away from us. The better team won, that's for us."
On finishing non-conference play…
"The preliminary games are over with and I'm looking forward to starting league play next Thursday. We're 0-0 again and have an opportunity to make it happen. These really count so it's going to be critical for us."
UP NEXT:
Southeastern opens Southland Conference play Thursday, Dec. 28 against Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. in the University Center. The Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office and Southeastern Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will collect non-perishable food items at the Gate 3 entrance to the University Center. The items will be donated to the Tangi Food Pantry, a non-profit organization that provides nutritious groceries to over 44,000 individuals and families in need.
