HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball team continued its winning ways on Saturday with a convincing 68-54 victory over Southland Conference foe Abilene Christian in the University Center.
 
Playing in front of past Southeastern hardwood heroes on Alumni Day, the current Lions (18-10, 12-3 Southland) moved a step closer to etching themselves in the SLU history books. With its fifth straight victory, Southeastern officially clinched a spot in next month's Southland Conference Tournament, scheduled for March 7-10 at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
 
While securing a conference tournament bid was a key first step, fourth-year Lion head coach Jay Ladner's squad has loftier goals within reach heading into the final three games of the regular season. The win over the visiting Wildcats (15-12, 7-7 Southland) helped SLU keep within a half-game of league leader Nicholls heading into the final two-week stretch run.
 
Senior forward Jordan Capps led the Lions with a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Capps was one of three SLU starters in double figures along with junior guard Marlain Veal (16 points) and senior guard Jabbar Singleton (11 points). Veal and Singleton also led the Lions with four assists apiece, while Singleton also paced all players with three steals.
 
The Lions limited ACU to 33.9 percent (20-for-59) shooting from the field. Junior forward Jaren Lewis and graduate guard Tevin Foster led the Wildcats with 12 points apiece. Junior guard Jaylen Franklin led Abilene Christian with eight rebounds, while Foster led ACU with four assists.
 
Southeastern led for all but 49 seconds of the game, as Veal, Capps and Singleton accounted for all the Lion points in a game-opening 14-4 run. ACU cut the lead to 25-19 on a three by sophomore guard B.J. Maxwell with 7:23 left in the first half, but the Lions answered with an 11-1 run over the next five-plus minutes.
 
Junior forward Moses Greenwood capped the run, which saw SLU hold the Wildcats without a field goal, with a put back of a Veal miss that put the Lions ahead, 36-20, with 2:07 left in the half. Southeastern would go into the break up, 38-24.
 
Any hope of a Wildcat comeback was curtailed early in the second half. A three by Singleton capped a 13-4 Lion spurt to start the half and pushed the commanding Southeastern advantage to 51-28 with 14:56 left.
 
Southeastern would grow the lead to as many as 24. ACU outscored the Lions, 12-2, in the final five minutes after the benches had been emptied to make the final margin deceivingly closer.
 
The Lions will have a midweek bye before closing out the road portion of its regular season schedule with a 6 p.m. contest at Northwestern State on Saturday in Natchitoches. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. Live video and stats, provided by the host Demons, will be accessible on the men's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.