HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team saw
Nick Caldwell collect his second double-double in three games, but going cold late doomed the Lions in a tight game against Troy, falling to the Trojans 77-71 Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
With the game tied 16-16 with nine minutes left in the first half, a Caldwell lay-up started an 11-2 Lions run as Southeastern took its largest lead of the game on another Caldwell lay-up, this time in transition as he leaked out ahead of the Trojan defense and
Roscoe Eastmond found him already at the rim to make it 27-18 SLU with just less than 6:30 left before halftime. However, Troy would slowly cut into that deficit, ultimately tying the score at 34-34 before an
Alec Woodard three gave the Lions the lead back. The Trojans answered on the other end to tie the score back up at 37-37, which would be the halftime score.
After giving up the first basket of the second half, the Lions scored eight of the next ten points to take a 45-41 advantage following a pair of free throws with 16:19 left in the game. Troy answered with a 6-2 run to tie to score at 47-47 and from that point the two teams went back and forth, trading the lead back and forth in a rush to the final horn. It would be Troy that got the last advantage. After
Roger McFarlane converted an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the score at 69-69 with just more than four minutes left, the Trojans finished the game on an 8-2 run for the 77-71 final as SLU's only two points down the stretch came from a pair of
Brody Rowbury free throws.
After ending a near two-year drought without a double-double a week and a half ago against Belhaven, Caldwell picked up his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He hit six of his 12 field goal attempts, including two of four from three, and was five of six at the free throw line while also collecting three assists. Rowbury tied his season high with 16 points as he hit seven of his 10 field goal attempts, grabbed five rebounds and had a steal.
Christian Agnew hit three of his five attempts from above the arc as he finished with 14 points to go with five rebounds as well.
Both teams took 59 shot attempts and both teams hit 26 of those shots in the game for an equal 44.1% field goal percentage. Southeastern hit one more shot from above the arc than Troy as SLU went eight of 20 from deep while the Troy hit seven of their 32 attempts from long distance. Where Troy separated from the Lions was at the free throw line as the Trojans went 18 of 26 while SLU was 11 of 14 at the stripe.
The Lions (5-7) look to end the two-game skid on Wednesday as Southern makes the hour drive from Baton Rouge to Hammond. Tip off of Wednesday's game against the Jaguars (4-7) is set for 7:00 P.M. at 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. 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.
