HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana will look to bounce back from a tough loss at Central Arkansas when the Lions wrap up a two-game road swing at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the American Bank Center.

    The game between the Lions (13-11, 6-5 Southland) and Islanders (12-9, 5-5 Southland) 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 Corpus Christi, will be accessible on the men's basketball schedule page at LionSports.net.

    UCA's Jordan Howard's 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left lifted the Bears to a 68-66 win over the Lions on Saturday. Southeastern lost despite a 24-point effort by sophomore guard Marlain Veal, who also had a career-high five 3-pointers and added seven rebounds and five assists. Junior forward Eddy Polanco contributed 18 points and six rebounds while senior Dominic Nelson had seven rebounds.

    "Our players are grieving a little bit, I'm grieving a little, but in basketball, you don't have time," Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner said. "You'll win some like that and lose some like that and that's the way it is, especially with our league being as tight as it is. We don't have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves because we are facing one of the hottest teams in the league and one that has been just a notch below Stephen F. Austin in terms of ruling the roost in the league the last few years."

    Corpus Christi heads into Wednesday's game riding a three-game winning streak following a 90-79 win over Houston Baptist on Feb. 1. Senior forward Rashawn Thomas scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Redshirt freshman guard Kareem South added 22 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Ehab Amin had 14 points and seven assists. Senior guard Jake Kocher contributed 13 points and six assists for the Islanders who shot 51.7 percent and converted 16 HBU turnovers into 22 points.

    Both Southeastern and Corpus Christi have checked opponents' shooting percentages in 2016-17. The Lions lead the conference in scoring defense (68.1 ppg) while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (43.2 percent). Southeastern is also forcing 15.4 turnovers a contest while averaging 7.4 steals and 3.3 blocks.

    Offensively, Southeastern is averaging 72.1 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting. The Lions are second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 37.9 percent and are fourth in assists (14.4 apg).

    Veal is averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game while ranking fifth in the conference in assists (4.3 apg) and 10th in steals (1.6 spg). Junior forward Davon Hayes is sixth in the league with two 3-pointers per game while averaging 13.3 points. Sophomore forward Moses Greenwood has 13 double-digit scoring games in the past 15 and is averaging 12.5 points and 6.3 rebounds. Polanco (9.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and junior guard Jabbar Singleton (4.3 ppg, 65 assists) are the other projected starters for the Lions.         

    Corpus Christi is fourth in the conference in holding opponents to a 44.5 field goal percentage while allowing 74.2 points per game. The Islanders lead the Southland with 9.4 steals and are averaging 16.5 forced turnovers and 4.3 blocks.

    Thomas leads the Southland with 20.2 points and 6.4 defensive rebounds per game. He is also second in rebounding (8.8 ppg) and third in blocks (2.1 bpg) while shooting 52.9 percent from the field. Amin is the league's steals leader with 3.4 per game and is fourth in scoring (7.8 ppg). Junior guard Joseph Kilgore (11.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 55 assists), Kocher (8.9 ppg) and South (8.0 ppg) are also projected to start for the Islanders.

    "They're well-coached," Ladner said. "Willis Wilson is one of the deans of the coaches in the league and he does a great job of coaching them and they will be well-prepared. They've got a very talented team. They've got the best big man in the league in Rashawn Thomas and Amin is as good a perimeter player as you will find in the league. And they have a lot of other talent. We'll have to regroup quickly and it's going to be a tall order for us, but our players have been resilient all year. They've always bounced back."

    Corpus Christi has won the previous six meetings at home with Southeastern and leads the series 9-3. The Islanders won their fourth straight overall in the series, 73-63, in Corpus Christi in 2015-16. Southeastern's last win against Corpus Christi came on Jan. 26, 2013, a 69-65 victory in Hammond.

    Southeastern returns home to play New Orleans Saturday at 5:45 p.m. in the University Center.