NEW ORLEANS, La. – Southeastern Louisiana senior guard Joshua Filmore tossed in a season-high 23 points as the Lions set up a showdown for the Southland Conference regular season title with a 69-64 win at New Orleans in the Lakefront Arena Wednesday night.

    Southeastern (20-10, 14-3 Southland) remained a game back of Nicholls (21-9, 15-2 Southland) heading into their matchup in the season finale on Saturday. The Colonels took a 73-70 victory over Northwestern State earlier Wednesday.

    Southeastern set a school record with its 14^th Southland win and picked up its 20^th overall victory for the first time since 2004-05 and just the third time since joining Division I. The Lions also won their seventh straight, their longest winning streak since Jan. 4-27, 1996.

    Filmore hit 9-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also became the 19^th Lion with 1,000 career points. Junior guard Marlain Veal added 13 points and six assists. Junior forward Moses Greenwood came off the bench to score 12 points, 10 in the second half. Senior guard Eddy Polanco contributed a career-high seven assists to go with a team-high five rebounds and eight points. The Lions shot 57.1 percent (28-of-49).

    New Orleans (14-15, 11-7 Southland) lost its third straight game. Diontae Champion led the Privateers with 16 points. Ezekiel Charles added 12 and Troy Green 11. Scott Plaisance pulled down a game-high six rebounds. New Orleans shot 39.3 percent from the field.

    New Orleans rallied from a 17-point game to tie it at 59 with on two Makur Puou free throws with 5:23 remaining. Veal regained the lead for Southeastern with two free throws with 5:09 left. Greenwood followed with a layup for a 63-59 Lion lead at the 3:34 mark.

    Champion drove in to cut the deficit to 65-64 with 2:41 left. After a miss 3 by Charles and an offensive foul, Polanco found junior guard Keith Charleston inside to make it 67-64 with 1:26 remaining. The Privateers again were called for an offensive foul and after a Lion turnover, Green missed two free throws with 31 seconds left. Veal then hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 68-64 lead with 17 seconds remaining. Champion missed a pair of 3s in the final seconds.

    Filmore had 19 points as Southeastern took a 38-31 lead at the half. The Lions opened the second half on a 9-0 run as Veal and Polanco both took steals in. Greenwood hooked in a short jumper to extend the lead to 47-31 with 16:54 remaining. A Greenwood layup gave the Lions their biggest lead at 49-32 at the 16:36 mark.

    New Orleans rallied with a 10-1 run to trim the deficit to 50-41 on a three-point play by Champion with 13:39 left. After Filmore hooked in a shot to make it 55-54 with 10:46 remaining, the Privateers went on an 11-2 surge to pull to within 57-55 on a putback by Green at the 7:17 mark.

    Southeastern sprinted out to a 14-6 lead with 15:28 left in the half behind eight points by Filmore and six by Capps. The lead grew to 20-8 with 13:14 remaining on 3s by Veal and Filmore.

    New Orleans answered with an 8-0 run to pull to within 20-16 on a three-point play by Matthew Jiles at the 11:36 mark. The Lions regained a 28-22 lead as senior forward Jordan Capps drove in for a dunk off a pass from Filmore with 7:40 left. Capps left the game with an injury shortly after and did not return.

    The Privateers got to within 28-27 on a Lamont Berzat 3 with 5:15 remaining. Filmore started a 10-0 run for Southeastern with a 3. Polanco found Veal on full-court pass to give the Lions a 38-29 lead at the 2:12 mark.
 
NOTES
    Veal moved past Brandon Fortenberry (2008-13) into second place on the Southeastern career list with 424 assists. He needs nine to tie Leo McClure (1973-77) for first. He also needs six assists to tie McClure (188, 1976-77) for most in a season by a Lion.
 
UP NEXT
    Southeastern wraps up the regular season with Senior Day 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.