HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana is looking to make its 13^th appearance in the Southland Conference a lucky one.

    The seventh-seeded Lions (16-15, 9-9 Southland), who advanced to the tournament for the third straight year under head coach Jay Ladner and their fifth straight time overall, open against No. 6 seed Lamar (18-13, 10-8 Southland) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Merrill Center in Katy, Texas.

    "Certainly with the parity in our league, we are really excited about the opportunity to accomplish one of our goals for the year and that is to qualify for the conference tournament," said Ladner, whose team closed the regular season with a 63-58 win at regular season conference champion New Orleans on Thursday. "All the teams now are 0-0 so it's a fresh start. Our ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament and that is out there in front of us. We finished up with some momentum with the big win at UNO the other night so we're excited to get to Katy and see what we can do. We have a tough draw in the first round with Lamar."

    Southeastern is 7-11 all-time in the tournament and will be looking for its first title since the 2004-05 season. The Lions broke a four-game losing streak in the tournament with an 84-74 win over New Orleans in the first round in 2015-16 before losing to Houston Baptist, 73-68, in the second round.

    Lamar, meanwhile, is making its first trip to the Southland Tournament since 2011-12 and 15th overall. The Cardinals have the best all-time winning percentage in the tournament at .633, capturing four titles, the last in 2012.

    "That cannot be underscored enough," Ladner said of postseason experience. "It's important. It's a different atmosphere. You're now in postseason play. There are a lot of teams across the country whose seasons are already over. We're fortunate to still be playing. It's a do or die mentality right now as far as getting to the NCAA Tournament. We want to make sure we are playing our best basketball, individually and as a team, and be ready to put our best foot forward. We're going to be counting on those guys who have been to the postseason tournament to help us prepare for that."

    Lamar won the regular season matchup between the two teams, 74-54, in Beaumont, Texas back on Jan. 7. Cardinals junior forward Colton Weisbrod scored 34 points while adding eight rebounds. Junior guard Jabbar Singleton led the Lions with 13 points while sophomore forward Moses Greenwood added 12. Lamar shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 64.3 percent in the first half.

    "Inside the conference, that was the worst loss we took," Ladner said. "They have an outstanding team and coach (Tic) Price does a great job. Weisbrod had a career night against us. He's an outstanding player and we just didn't have any answer for him. They just worked us over on the boards. Hopefully we have improved and have learned a lesson and we can give them a better ballgame."

    Southeastern heads into the tournament averaging 71.1 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting, including 36.7 percent on 3-pointers, fourth-best in the league. The Lions lead the conference in scoring defense (67.9 ppg) while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (42.9 percent). They are second in the league in rebounding margin (+4.0) and third in both rebounding offense (36.3 rpg) and defense (32.3 rpg).

    Southeastern is led by sophomore guard Marlain Veal, who was named third-team All-Southland Conference on Monday. Veal is 10th in the league in scoring with 14.4 points per game and sixth in both assists (4.5 apg) and steals (1.8 spg).

    Sophomore guard/forward Davon Hayes, who has a team-high 20 double-digit scoring games, is averaging 12.3 points per game. Junior forward James Currington leads the team with 6.8 rebounds a game while averaging 8.7 points. He has started 15 games since missing the first nine games with an injury. Senior center Dominic Nelson (3.8 ppg) is tied for third in the league and tied for 43rd nationally in blocks (2.0 bpg) while ranking 15th in the SLC in rebounding (6.5 rpg). Singleton (4.2 ppg, 79 assists) is the only Lion to start all 31 games this season.

    For Lamar, Weisbrod, a first-team All-Southland selection, is third in the league in third in rebounding and sixth in scoring (15.8 ppg). Sophomore guard Nick Garth (12.3 ppg) ranks second in the conference with 2.9 3-pointers per game. Junior guard Joey Frenchwood (8.6 ppg) has the best assist/turnover ratio in the league at 1,9 while also ranking fifth in assists (4.5 apg) and 11 in steals (1.5 spg). Sophomore forward Josh Nzeakor (8.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg) is fourth in field goal percentage (.591) while junior guard Zjori Bosha (6.9 ppg) is eighth in steals (1.7 spg).

    Joining Weisbrod, Frenchwood, Nzeakor and Bosha in the starting lineup is senior guard Lincoln Davis (5.2 ppg).

    Lamar leads the league in scoring margin at a plus-3.5, thanks to a second-best 78.3 points per game average. The Cardinals are shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 36.1 on 3s.

    Lamar is allowing 71.7 points per game on 46.0 percent shooting, including a second-best 32.1 percent on 3s. The Cardinals Lamar are averaging 36.0 rebounds per contest while allowing 34.4, ranking sixth in the conference in rebounding margin (plus-1.6).

    Turnovers could be a key factor Wednesday. Lamar ranks 17^th nationally in steals per game (8.1 spg) and 18th in turnovers forced (16.0). The Cardinals also lead the league in fewest turnovers per game (13.3) and are second in turnover margin (plus-2.6) and assist/turnover ratio (1.1). Southeastern, meanwhile, is averaging 15.9 turnovers while forcing 15.1, grabbing 6.7 steals a game.

    Wednesday's winner will advance to play No. 4 seed Stephen F. Austin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The winner of that game will meet No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The championship game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

    Wednesday's game will be televised on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app. The 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. A link to live stats, provided by the Southland, will be accessible on the men's basketball schedule page at LionSports.net.

    Tickets are available at the Southeastern Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office through close of business Friday and at the Merrell Center box office beginning Wednesday at 5 p.m.

    General admission tickets for the first three rounds are $15 apiece. Tickets to each men's and women's championship games are $10 for general admission. An all-tournament booklet is available for $60.

    For more information, contact the ticket office at (985) 549-5466 or 1-866-LION-TIX. Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Fridays. The ticket office is located in Room 107 of the Dugas Center for Southeastern Athletics.

    For more information about the tournament, visit www.Southland.org.
 
2017 Southland Conference Tournament
at Merrill Center, Katy, Texas
First Round - Wednesday, March 8
Game 1: 8-Central Arkansas vs. 5-Sam Houston, 5 p.m.
Game 2: 7-Southeastern vs. 6-Lamar, 7:30 p.m.
 
Second Round - Thursday, March 9
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. 4-Houston Baptist, 5 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 2 vs. 3-Stephen F. Austin, 7:30 p.m.
 
Semifinals - Friday, March 10
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. 1-New Orleans, 5 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. 2-TAMCC, 7:30 p.m.
 
Championship - Saturday, March 11
Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 8:30 p.m.