NEW ORLEANS, La. – Despite 23 points from Pape Diop, the Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball fell to the University of New Orleans, 79-69, Saturday in the season finale at Lakefront Arena.  
                                                                                                       
The Lions (8-23, 5-15 Southland) were led by Diop's 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting. The junior from Ziguinchor. Senegal also added nine rebounds. Freshman Byron Smith chipped in with 15 points to aid SLU.
 
Senior Von Julien, playing his last game for Southeastern, finished the game with nine points and five assists. The Reserve, Louisiana native played in 65 career games and tallied 285 assists, ninth all-time in program history. The Riverside Academy grad also scored 457 career points (7.1 ppg) and 71 steals.
 
UNO (9-21, 5-15 Southland) was led by Jahmel Myers with 20 points and seven rebounds. Troy Green added 16 points including 8-for-10 from the free throw line to pace the Privateers.
 
The two teams battled in the first half as UNO took a 36-32 lead into halftime. The Privateers pushed their lead to 12, 54-42, with 13:32 left. However, the Lions rallied back going on a 12-2 run to cut it to 56-54 UNO with 9:12 to go.
 
With SLU trailing, 62-61, with 6:26 remaining, the Privateers went on a 9-0 run to take control, 71-61, at the final media timeout to pull away for the win.
 
The Privateers finished 29-for-54 (53 percent) from the field while the Lions were 25-for-61 for 42 percent. Both teams struggled from the three-point line as SLU was just 2-for-19 (11 percent) beyond the arch while UNO was 3-for-16 (18 percent).
While the Lions' season comes to an end, SLU head coach David Kiefer took a lot of positives from his team's efforts.
 
"I just can't say enough about our guys battling every single day regardless of our record," said Kiefer. "This team fought and scratched and clawed every single game and for that I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them."
 
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.