HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana had four players score in double figures in rolling to an 85-58 Southland Conference victory over Northwestern State Saturday evening in the University Center.

    The Lions (12-8, 6-1 Southland) matched their best conference start, equaling that of the 2003-04 and '04-25 squads. Southeastern also recorded its largest margin of victory in a league game since 98-70 win over Lamar on Jan. 18, 2016. It was the largest victory by the Lions in their 135 meetings with Northwestern State.

    Senior forward Jordan Capps led Southeastern with 15 points. Junior guard Marlain Veal tied a career high with six steals while adding 12 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Senior forward James Currington also had 12 points, a team-high seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals. Junior forward Moses Greenwood added 12 points. The Lions shot 50.8 percent while recording 21 assists with just 10 turnovers.

    Iziahiah Sweeney led NSU (3-15, 0-7 Southland) with 15 points. C.J. Jones and Malik Metoyer had 10 points apiece with Larry Owens grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. The Demons shot 38.6 percent and out-rebounded Southeastern 40-32 but had 21 turnovers as the Lions grabbed a season-high 15 steals.

    Southeastern never trailed in the game and led 47-35 at the half. The Lions got out to a 13-6 lead as Capps scored off an assist from senior guard Jabbar Singleton at the 16:35 mark of the first half. NSU answered with a 7-0 run to tie it at 13 on a Brandon Hutton hook with 15:13 left.

    Veal started an 11-0 run over a 1:47 span for the Lions with a layup with 13:59 remaining. Greenwood and junior guard Keith Charleston sandwiched layups around a 3 by senior guard Joshua Filmore before Greenwood took a steal in for a dunk to make it 24-13 at the 11:53 mark.

    The Demons pulled to within 26-18 on a Caleb Starks jumper with 9:58 left. But Charleston, senior guard Quinton Thomas and Capps responded with 3s and Currington added a short jumper to give Southeastern a 37-22 lead with 6:40 remaining. NSU made it a 10-point game on a Jones free throw with 3:39 remaining. But Veal converted a three-point play with 17 seconds to extend the Lions' lead back to 47-33.

    The Demons cut the deficit to 49-39 on two Jones free throws with 18:31 remaining. But a Singleton 3 opened a 12-0 run for Southeastern over the next 3:43. Charleston capped it with another 3 with 14:04 left to give the Lions a 61-39 lead. NSU did not get the margin under 18 the rest of the way with Southeastern taking its biggest lead at 85-56 on a Greenwood layup with 46 seconds remaining.
 
NOTES:
    Southeastern moved to 85-50 against Northwestern State with its second straight win over the Demons. It's the first time the Lions have won two straight in the series since winning six in a row from 2009-11.
 
    Southeastern is now 25-1 when scoring at least 80 points in Jay Ladner's three-plus seasons as head coach.
 
    NSU was 0-for-4 on 3-pointers, the first time a Lions opponent failed to connect on a 3 since North Texas on Dec. 16, 2012.
 
    Veal also had six steals at New Orleans on March 2, 2017. They are the most steals by a Lion since Zay Jackson had seven at Florida A&M on Dec. 15, 2015.
 
    The Lions' 15 steals were their most since they had 15 against Florida A&M on Dec. 12, 2016.
 
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
   "I thought our preparation was really good the last couple of days. I knew we were ready to play. We were tight in our walk-through today and in our practices the last couple of days. I wasn't real pleased with our defensive performance the first half. Offensively, obviously we were scoring the ball but we were getting a little big comfortable just by trading baskets instead of locking in and playing the style of defense we want to play. So I was really pleased when I saw we held them to 25 percent in the second half and I thought that was the difference in the game. The stat I really want to acknowledge and compliment our team and players is the fact that we had 21 points and 10 turnovers. What that led to offensively as compared to two assists and 21 turnovers for Northwestern, I think that had a lot to do with the game."            
 
UP NEXT:
    Southeastern travels to Huntsville, Texas Wednesday to take on Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m. in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
 
BOX SCORE
Southeastern La. 85, Northwestern State 58
NORTHWESTERN STATE (3-15, 0-7 SLC)
Sweeney, Iziahiah 6-16 3-4 15; Jones, C.J. 3-9 4-6 10; Metoyer, Malik 5-6 0-0 10; Hutton, Brandon 2-4 1-3 5; Owens, Larry 1-4 3-4 5; Starks, Caleb 2-5 1-2 5; Lane, Ishmael 2-5 0-0 4; Dixon, Darian 1-4 1-1 3; Ott, Vontay 0-3 1-2 1; Guest, Jacob 0-0 0-0 0; Lazare, Cameron 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 14-22 58.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (12-8, 6-1 SLC)
Capps, Jordan 7-14 2-2 17; Greenwood, Moses 5-6 2-2 12; Currington, James 6-8 0-0 12; Veal, Marlain 5-7 2-4 12; Singleton, Jabbar 3-6 2-2 9; Charleston, Keith 3-4 0-0 8; Filmore, Joshua 2-9 0-0 6; Polanco, Eddy 0-5 4-4 4; Thomas, Quinton 1-2 0-0 3; Gonzalez, Brandon 1-1 0-0 2; West, D'Angelo 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-65 12-14 85.
Northwestern State............   35   23  -   58
Southeastern Louisiana........   47   38  -   85
3-point goals--Northwestern State 0-4 (Sweeney, Iziahiah 0-1; Jones, C.J. 0-2; Metoyer, Malik 0-1), Southeastern Louisiana 7-27 (Filmore, Joshua 2-8; Charleston, Keith 2-3; Capps, Jordan 1-4; Singleton, Jabbar 1-4; Thomas, Quinton 1-2; West, D'Angelo 0-3; Polanco, Eddy 0-3). Fouled out--Northwestern State-None, Southeastern Louisiana-None. Rebounds--Northwestern State 40 (Owens, Larry 10), Southeastern Louisiana 32 (Currington, James 7). Assists--Northwestern State 2 (Starks, Caleb 1; Metoyer, Malik 1), Southeastern Louisiana 21 (Veal, Marlain 8). Total fouls--Northwestern State 15, Southeastern Louisiana 21. Technical fouls--Northwestern State-None, Southeastern Louisiana-None.