HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana will look to stay in the chase for the Southland Conference regular season title when the Lions close out their road schedule at New Orleans Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Lakefront Arena.

    Southeastern (19-10, 13-3 Southland) is a game behind Nicholls (20-9, 14-2) heading into the final week of the season. The Lions host the Colonels, who visit Northwestern State Wednesday, on Saturday.

    Southeastern has already clinched a top-four seed and a first-round bye in the Southland Conference Tournament, scheduled for March 7-10 in Katy, Texas.

    Wednesday's game between the Lions and New Orleans (14-14, 11-6 Southland) will air on Eleven Sports Prime live via Twitch and delayed at 11 p.m. Wednesday on DirecTV 623, AT&T U-verse 1665 and Verizon FiOS 597 and at noon Thursday on Cox Sports Television. It will also be streamed live on the Southland Digital Network at www.southland.org/live and be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.

    Southeastern tied the 2004-05 team for the most Southland victories in program history with an 86-62 win at Northwestern State this past Saturday. The victory was the Lions' sixth straight, their longest win streak since 2005.

    Senior forward Jordan Capps had a game-high 21 points for Southeastern. Freshman forward Brandon Gonzalez went 6-for-6 from the field in scoring a career-high 15 points. Junior guard Marlain Veal had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds. Senior guard Joshua Filmore added nine points and five assists while senior guard Eddy Polanco had eight points and five boards. The Lions shot a season-best 62.7 percent (32-of-51) while recording 21 assists to just nine turnovers.

    New Orleans lost its second straight on the road, 78-64, at Nicholls on Saturday. Freshman guard Troy Green tossed in 18 points while sophomore guard Bryson Robinson came off the bench to add 13. Senior forward Makur Puou had his second-straight 10-rebound game. 

    Southeastern and New Orleans are the top two defensive teams in the Southland since the start of league play. The Lions are allowing 66.3 points in league games after holding their last five opponents, and seven of their last eight, to under 70 points. Overall, the Lions are allowing 69.3 points - second best in the conference - on 43.8 percent shooting, including 33.9 percent on 3s. Southeastern also ranks 29^th nationally in forcing 15.4 turnovers per contest.

    New Orleans is allowing 67.9 points per Southland game. Overall, the Privateers are fourth in the league in giving up 69.6 points per contest. Opponents are shooting 45.8 percent, including 36.6 percent on 3s.

    Offensively, Southeastern is averaging 72.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting, including 35.8 percent beyond the arc. Capps leads the Lions with 13.6 points per game while ranking seventh in the league in field goal percentage (.534). Veal is the conference leader and ranks 22nd nationally with 6.1 assists per game. His 176 assists rank 18th in the country. He also ranks fourth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.9) while averaging 12.5 points.

    Junior forward Moses 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. Filmore is fifth in 3-pointers made per game (2.4) and Polanco seventh in free throw percentage (.800).

    Veal, Capps, Filmore (9.1 ppg, 55 assists), Polanco (7.9 ppg) and junior guard Keith Charleston (3.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 40 assists) are the projected starters for the Lions.

    New Orleans comes in shooting 45.0 percent, 35.7 percent on 3s, in averaging 69.3 points per game. The Privateers are second in the conference in allowing 32.6 rebounds a contest while averaging 34.8 on the offensive end.

    Senior forward Travin Thibodeaux is fourth in the league in scoring (16.3 ppg), sixth in field goal percentage (.542) and 10th in blocks (1.1 bpg) while averaging 5.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Junior guard Ezekiel Charles leads the conference in making 45.8 percent of his 3-pointers. Robinson is averaging 1.9 3s per game.

    Projected to start for the Privateers are Puou (8.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Green (7.4 ppg, 61 assists), junior guard Diontae Champion (5.1 ppg), freshman guard Damion Rosser (3.7 ppg) and junior guard Tyren Harrison (1.6 ppg). Robinson (9.5 ppg, 75 assists) and Charles (6.2 ppg) are the top producers off the bench for the Privateers.

    Southeastern used an 18-0 run to pull out to a 23-point halftime lead, then held off a second-half charge by New Orleans to take a 71-64 win in Hammond on Feb. 14. Capps led the Lions with 18 points and eight rebounds. Veal tossed in 14 points while junior forward Moses Greenwood had 11. New Orleans was led by Green with 13 points. Freshman guard Lamont Berzat contributed 11 points while Thibodeaux had a team-high seven rebounds.

    Southeastern limited New Orleans to 24.0 percent from the floor in the first half, holding the Privateers scoreless for a span of 8:46 in taking a 40-17 lead at the break. New Orleans got to within 68-62 on Charles putback with 32 seconds left, but Capps picked up a steal near midcourt and went in for a dunk to seal the win.
 
NOTES:
    Southeastern's 19 wins are the most since the Lions went 19-12 in 2009-10 (18 of those wins were vacated due to NCAA sanctions). The Lions have won 19 or more games just six times in their history.

    Southeastern's seven Southland Conference road wins and nine road wins overall are the most in school history. Combined with the neutral site win over Mississippi Valley State in the Savannah Invitational, the Lions have won 10 games away from Hammond, tying the 2004-05 team for the most in program history.

    Southeastern's six-game winning streak is its longest since Jan. 19-Feb. 10, 2005. It is the Lions' fourth streak of at least six games since it joined Division I in 1980-81 and the ninth in school history. The streak is currently tied for the 13th-longest in the country.

    Veal needs three assists to tie Brandon Fortenberry (2008-13) for second on the Southeastern career assist list with 421.

    Filmore needs 15 points to become the 19^th Lion with 1,000 career points.

    Southeastern has won five of the past six meetings with New Orleans after taking a 71-64 win in Hammond on Feb. 14. The Privateers' last win was 60-52 in Hammond on Feb. 11, 2017. New Orleans leads the series, 12-5. The Lions are 2-6 on the road against the Privateers.
 
UP NEXT:
    Southeastern wraps up the regular season with Senior Night against Nicholls on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the University Center.
 
Southland Conference Tournament Ticket Information
    The Southeastern Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office encourages all Lion and Lady Lion fans to purchase tickets for the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament on March 7-11 at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas through the SLU Ticket Office.
    Southeastern is selling all-tournament books that includes tickets for all eight sessions of the tournament for $70. Single-session tickets are on sale for $20. Tickets can be picked up at the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office, which is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The ticket office number is (985) 549-5466. 
    SLU fans who purchase tickets on game day at the Merrell Center are encouraged to visit the Southeastern Athletics window at the tournament site.