HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana will look to tie the school record for Southland Conference wins when the Lions travel to Northwestern State Saturday for a 6 p.m. tip-off in Natchitoches.

    Southeastern (18-10, 12-3 Southland) will be out to equal the mark set by the Southland champion 2004-05 squad which finished 13-3.

    The Lions, on a five-game winning streak, their longest since 2006, enter the game tied with Stephen F. Austin (23-5, 12-3) for second place in the Southland, a game behind Nicholls (19-9, 13-2). Southeastern can also clinch a top-four seed and a first-round bye in the Southland Conference Tournament, scheduled for March 7-10 in Katy, Texas, with a win and a New Orleans loss at Nicholls.

    Saturday's game between the Lions and Northwestern State (4-22, 1-14 Southland) can be heard 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 Northwestern State, can be found on the Southeastern men's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    Southeastern clinched its sixth-straight trip to the Southland Tournament with a 68-54 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday. Senior forward Jordan Capps led the Lions with a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Marlain Veal (16 points) and senior guard Jabbar Singleton (11 points) had four assists apiece, while Singleton also paced all players with three steals.

    Southeastern limited ACU to 33.9 percent (20-for-59) shooting from the field. The shooting percentage tied a season low by a Lion opponent while the Wildcats' 54 points and 20 field goals were the second lowest allowed by Southeastern.

    Capps received honorable mention Southland Player of the Week recognition on Monday after averaging 20 points and eight rebounds in wins over New Orleans and Abilene Christian. He leads the Lions with 13.6 points per game while ranking 10th in the league in field goal percentage (.526). Veal (12.5 ppg) is the conference leader with 6.0 assists per game while ranking second with 2.1 steals per contest.

    Greenwood is eighth in the conference in field goal percentage (.528) and 12th in rebounding (5.8 rpg) while averaging 10.0 points per game. Senior guard Joshua Filmore is fifth in 3-pointers made per game (2.4), Singleton eighth in 3-point percentage (.400) and senior guard Eddy Polanco seventh in free throw percentage (.804).

    Veal, Capps, Filmore (9.1 ppg, 50 assists), Singleton (6.5 ppg, 62 assists) and junior guard Keith Charleston (3.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 39 assists) are the projected starters for the Lions.

    Northwestern State broke a 17-game losing streak with a 66-54 win at Incarnate Word on Wednesday. Junior forward Ishmael Lane had his ninth double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebound. Freshman guard Czar Perry tossed in 16 points.

    Lane paces the Demons with 14.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game along with 49 blocks. He is second in the conference in blocks (1.9 bpg), fourth in rebounding, fifth in field goal percentage (.545) and 12th in scoring. Sweeney is averaging 11.2 points with a team-high 37 assists and 25 steals.

    Expected to start for Northwestern State are Lane, freshman guard C.J. Jones (5.2 ppg, 31 assists), junior guard Malik Metoyer (4.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg), junior guard DeAndre Love (2.3 ppg) and senior guard Cameron Lazare (0.0 ppg).

    Southeastern took an 85-58 win over Northwestern State in Hammond on Jan. 20, its largest margin of victory ever over the Demons. Capps had 15 points and Veal tied a career high with six steals while adding 12 points and eight assists. Senior forward James Currington also had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Greenwood added 12 points. The Lions shot 50.8 percent while recording 21 assists with just 10 turnovers.

    Sweeney led NSU with 15 points. Jones and Metoyer had 10 points apiece with freshman center 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.
 
NOTES:
    Southeastern can set school records for regular season Southland Conference and overall road wins with a victory Saturday. The Lions are 8-7 overall and 6-1 in conference play on the road. 
    
    Southeastern's 18 wins are the most since the Lions went 19-12 in 2006-07 (18 of those wins were vacated due to NCAA sanctions). The Lions have won 18 or more games just six times since joining Division I in 1980-81. Southeastern also won 18 or more twice while playing in Division II from 1947-80.
 
    Southeastern's five-game winning streak is its longest since a five-game streak from Feb. 13-March 3, 2006. The Lions last won six straight from Jan. 19-Feb. 10, 2005. The streak is currently tied for the 18th-longest in the country.
 
    Southeastern is 14-8 under head coach Jay Ladner when playing a team for the second time in the regular season. The Lions are 3-0 in rematches in 2017-18 with wins over  Central Arkansas, McNeese and Abilene Christian.
 
    Northwestern State and Southeastern are playing for the 136th time in the series dating back to the 1947-48 season. The Demons lead 85-50 in the most-played series by Southeastern. The Lions have won two straight over Northwestern State Southeastern is 14-47 on the road against NSU after snapping a four-game losing streak in Prather Coliseum with a 73-66 win in 2017.

    Mike McConathy is in his 19th season as the head coach at Northwestern State.
 
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
On Northwestern State:
    "When these two teams play, our longest rivalry, you can throw those record books out. They have certainly played better as of late. They are just coming off a win so they will be kind of on a high playing at their place which has historically been a tough place for Southeastern to play. We're going to have our hands full, that's for sure. If we get caught looking ahead, it will ruin every reason for us to be looking ahead because that would be a loss and could very well knock us out of the league race. We have to take them one at a time and if we don't, we will pay the price, but I think our team will be ready."

UP NEXT:
    Southeastern closes out its regular season road slate Wednesday at New Orleans at 7 p.m. in the Lakefront Arena.