BEAUMONT, Texas – The short-handed Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball team fell, 74-64, to Lamar Tuesday night at the Montagne Center in the final non-conference game of the season.
The Lions (2-7) were without second-year head coach David Kiefer and four student-athletes including reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week Keon Clergeot due to COVID-19 protocols.
SLU was led by junior Joe Kasperzyk with a season-high 18 points and four assists while junior Gus Okafor had 17 points and nine rebounds.
Lamar (2-7) had four players score in double figures led by preseason second team All-Southland selection Davion Buster with 21 points. Avery Sullivan added a double-double for the Cardinals with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Kasen Harris and Anderson Kopp had 12 and 11 points respectively to pace LU.
SLU battled early on as they led 29-25 with 4:08 left in the first half. But the Cardinals finished the half on a 9-1 run to take a 34-30 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Lions fell behind trailing by as many as 13 points. Despite Kasperzyk and Okafor's efforts, SLU was unable to cut the deficit to lower than seven the final 16:20.
Southeastern finished the game 24-for-61 (39 percent) from the field while Lamar was 25-for-60 (41 percent). While the Lions outrebounded the Cardinals, 41-36, LU shot 8-for-20 from the three-point line and SLU was 5-for-22.
Next up, SLU will open Southland Conference play against Sam Houston State (6-5) in the Lions' home opener Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in the University Center.
HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the basketball program are encouraged to join the Hardwood Club. Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners. All membership fees and donations to Hardwood Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern basketball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at
laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting
www.LionUp.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Basketball, follow @LionUpMBB and @DavidKieferSLU on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2020-21 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
