HAMMOND, La. – The top seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament is up for grabs as Southeastern hosts Nicholls for Senior Day on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the University Center.

    Southeastern (20-10, 14-3 Southland) enters the game second in the Southland, a game back of Nicholls (21-9, 15-2). The Lions took a 67-63 win over the Colonels in Thibodaux on Jan. 27.

    Both teams have already clinched a top-two seed and a bye into the semifinals of the conference tournament, scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.

    Southeastern will honor its seniors prior to the game.

    Saturday's game will air on Eleven Sports live on DirecTV 623, AT&T U-verse 1665 and Verizon FiOS 597 and Hammond Spectrum 299/891. Delayed coverage will air at 7 p.m. on Cox Sports Television. It will also be streamed live on the Southland Digital Network at www.southland.org/live and on the Southland Conference apps (iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.

    It will be broadcast 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 will be accessible on the Southeastern men's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    The Lions won their school-record 14th Southland game on Wednesday with a 68-64 victory at New Orleans. Southeastern also won its 20th game of the season for the third time in Division I and picked up its seventh straight victory, tying for the Lions' longest streak since 1996.

    Senior guard Joshua Filmore tossed in a season-high 23 points in becoming the 19th 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, three steals and eight points. The Lions shot 57.1 percent from the field.

    Nicholls won its eighth straight, 73-70, at Northwestern State on Wednesday. Senior guard Roddy Peters poured in 32 points, going 9-of-12 from the field and 14-of-20 at the line. Senior guard Jahvaughn Powell added 13 points while senior guard Tevon Saddler had 12 before leaving with an injury.

    Saturday's game will be a match between one of the top defensive teams in the country against the league's highest-scoring squad. Southeastern has allowed a Southland-low 66.2 points per game since the start of league play. The Lions have held their last six opponents, and eight of their last nine, to under 70 points. Overall, the Lions are allowing 69.1 points - second best in the conference - on 43.6 percent shooting, including 33.5 percent on 3s.

    Nicholls, meanwhile, comes in averaging a league-high 83.9 points per game. The Colonels are shooting 48.2 percent, second-best in the league, including 36.0 percent on 3s. They are second in assists with 15.3 per game.

    Peters, a three-time Southland Player of the Week selection, ranks second in the Southland in scoring (19.7 ppg), seventh in assists (4.3 apg) and ninth in field goal percentage (.532). Saddler is sixth in scoring (15.8 ppg) and ninth in rebounding (6.6 rpg). Powell (10.2 ppg) is the conference leader in steals (2.4 spg) while ranking eighth in 3-pointers per game (2.3).

    Senior guard Lafayette Rutledge (9.6 ppg) is second in 3s per game (2.9) and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.410). Freshman forward Ryghe Lyons (5.3 ppg) ranks third in blocks (1.7 bpg) while senior center Legend Robertin (2.5 ppg) is eighth (1.2 bpg). 

    Offensively, Southeastern is averaging 72.7 points on 45.6 percent shooting, including 35.9 percent beyond the arc. The Lions are averaging 34.7 rebounds while giving up 35.2 and are second in the Southland with a 1.2 assist/turnover ratio in league games.

    Senior forward Jordan Capps leads the Lions with 13.7 points per game while ranking seventh in the league in field goal percentage (.536). Veal (12.5 ppg) is the conference leader and ranks 21st nationally with 6.1 assists per game. He is also second in the league and 21st in the country with 2.1 steals per contest.

    Greenwood is eighth in the conference in field goal percentage (.534) and 14th in rebounding (5.8 rpg) while averaging 10.1 points per game. Filmore is third in 3-pointers made per game (2.5) and Polanco seventh in free throw percentage (.802).

    Veal, Greenwood, Filmore (9.1 ppg, 55 assists), Polanco (7.9 ppg, 44 assists) and junior guard Keith Charleston (3.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 40 assists) are the projected starters for the Lions.

    Nicholls is allowing 75.5 points per game but is third in conference games in giving up 69.6 points. Opponents are shooting 44.1 percent, 34.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Colonels are averaging 37.2 rebounds while allowing 35.7.

    Nicholls ranks second in the conference and third nationally with 9.8 steals per game. The Colonels' 293 total steals are second in the country behind Stephen F. Austin's 318. Nicholls is also fourth in the nation in forcing 17.6 turnovers a game.

    Southeastern rallied from deficits of nine and 10 points in the earlier meeting between the teams. The Lions trailed 48-38 with 13:33 left but used a 19-3 run over the next 8:41 to take their biggest lead at 57-51 with 4:52 remaining. Nicholls' Kevin Johnson missed two of three free throws that would have tied the game at 65 with 4 seconds left.

    Greenwood had 20 points to lead Southeastern. Veal added 15 points while Polanco had 11 points and six rebounds.The Lions held Nicholls to its season low in scoring. Peters tossed in a game-high 22 points while Saddler had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior forward Kimani Jackson added 11 points.
           
NOTES:
    Southeastern's 20 wins are the most since the Lions went 24-9 in 2004-05.
 
    Southeastern's seven-game winning streak ties the longest by the Lions since they joined Division I in 1980-81. It is the Lions' third streak of at least seven games since they joined and the fifth in school history. The streak is currently tied for the 10th-longest in the country. Nicholls' eight-game win streak is tied for the sixth-longest.
 
    Veal needs six assists to tie Leo McClure's school single-season record of 188 set in 1976-77. He needs nine to tie McClure for the career lead at 433.     
 
    This will be the 99th meeting between Southeastern and Nicholls with the Colonels being the Lions' third-most common opponent. The Lions lead 53-45 in the series that dates back to the 1959-60 season.
 
QUOTES:
Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner:
On playing for the top seed in the final game:
    "This is what you work all year for and in our case, it is something we really worked four years for. It's not something that just happens by chance. You have to have outstanding young men and certainly outstanding players, outstanding coaching staff, outstanding support, and everything has to kind of come together to put us in this position. We're in this position and we've been controlling our own destiny for weeks. We haven't had to worry about other people beating other people. We're sailing our own ship and sailing it in the direction we want to sail for sure."
 
On Nicholls:
"We were fortunate to beat them down there in just a very hard-fought game, probably one of the better games in the Southland this year. They have an outstanding team and are very well-coached. They, of all the teams in our league, really look the part of high-major, Division I team. They have big forwards and big guards and they're very impressive looking physically. And they don't just look good physically, they are good players. We have great respect for them and unfortunately one of the teams is going to have to lose tomorrow and we hope it's not us. But we expect a very hard-fought game."
 
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.