HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team got double-doubles from both
Nick Caldwell, who also scored a career high, and
Roger McFarlane, but a lid covered the SLU basket in overtime as the Lions saw its four-game winning streak come to an end, falling to the Northwestern State Demons 91-81 Thursday night at the University Center.
Southeastern struggled through the first half as Northwestern State jumped out immediately to a 5-0 lead. SLU would cut it down to two as an
Alec Woodard three made it 9-7 Demons with 16:10 left in the first half. But NSU went on an 11-2 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 20-9 with 13:45 left in the period.
That's when
Mehdi Pissis warmed up, hitting three straight three-pointers as part of a 9-2 Lions run to cut that deficit down to 22-18 with just less than 12:00 left. But the Demons answered, getting their lead back up to 10 and would maintain that margin, building it up to as much as 12 at 40-28 with 2:39 left before halftime. However, the Lions finished the half strong, getting five straight points from Woodard to close out the scoring in the period to make it 40-33 at the break.
The run reached 7-0 for SLU to start the second half as a Caldwell basket made it 40-35 before the Demons got on the board again. Trailing 48-41, a Caldwell lay-up spurred a 15-7 SLU run to give the Lions their first lead of the game as McFarlane drained a right corner three to put Southeastern up 56-55 with 11:30 left in regulation. NSU scored the next six to retake a five-point lead, but a Caldwell jumper and a
Sami Pissis three tied the score right back up at 61-61with just less than 7:45 left.
SLU's largest lead of the game came with just more than four minutes left as a
Boogie Anderson layup and a McFarlane three turned a 66-66 game into a 71-66 Lions lead. With the score tied at 75-75, Southeastern looked to be in good position as
Alec Woodard gave the Lions the lead with a pair of free throws with just under a minute left. That was followed by a Demon miss and McFarlane rebound, giving the Lions the ball and forcing NSU to foul. Caldwell split a pair at the line to make it a three-point lead, but a foul on a three-point attempt the other way turned into three made free throws to tie the score. McFarlane's last second look rolled off the rim to force overtime.
The extra period started inauspiciously for the Lions as Woodard read the jump ball, stole the back tap from NSU, and raced to the rim. However, his layup attempt rolled off the cylinder, a harbinger of things to come for SLU in the extra period as the Lions made just one field goal in the extra five minutes which came with just more than 30 seconds remaining on a Caldwell layup with the Lions trailing by 12 after seven misses to open the overtime period.
Caldwell tallied his third double-double of the season, scoring a career-high 25 point while grabbing 12 rebounds to go with three assists, a block, and a steal. McFarlane also tabulated his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go with two assists, a block, and a steal. Woodard scored 15 points while grabbing three rebounds, dishing out three assists, and getting two steals. Anderson finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Mehdi Pissis, getting his first start as a Lion, rounded out the leading scorers with 11 points as well to go with five rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal.
The Lions (10-9, 4-2 SLC) look to get back in the win column on Saturday as Texas A&M-Commerce comes to two for a battle of Lions. Tip-off against A&M-Commerce (8-12, 4-2 SLC) is set for 3:30 P.M. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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.
