HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team battled through a great shooting day by Lamar, especially from three, and used tight defense in overtime to defeat the Cardinals 89-84 Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
Lamar quickly jumped out to an 8-2 lead and would hold that edge until the Cardinals led 12-6 with 15:40 remaining before halftime. That's when
Alec Woodard started to warm up, hitting the first of four three-pointers that was part of a 26-7 run which gave the Lions their largest lead of the game at 32-19 after
Brody Rowbury put back a missed SLU shot with 6:20 left before the break.
But the Lions could not put the Cardinals away early as, after trading threes, Lamar went on their own 10-0 run to cut the SLU lead down to just three points.
Roger McFarlane hit a pair of free throws, but a dunk by Lamar brought the half to a close with Southeastern leading 37-34.
The Cardinals immediately tied the score out of the break and retook the several possessions later lead for the first time since during the start of Southeastern's big run. Neither team could really pull away in the second half, though Lamar would have the biggest lead of the period at seven points when the Cardinals took a 56-49 lead with just less then 12:30 left in the scheduled 40 minutes.
SLU immediately answered the challenge as a
Nick Caldwell three started an 11-0 run as a jumper by McFarlane put the Lions up 60-56 with just less than 8:30 left in regulation. Another Caldwell shot, this one a lay-up with less than 6:30 left, gave Southeastern its largest lead of the period at 66-60. However, Lamar had another run in them, scoring the next 10 points to retake the lead at 70-67 before a three by
Roscoe Eastmond tied the score yet again and from there, neither team led by more than three points for the remainder of regulation. After Woodard split a pair of free throws with eight seconds left, a lay-up by Lamar tied the score with just 0.6 left on the clock. McFarlane took in the deep inbounds pass and put up a shot that went in, apparently giving the Lions the win, but replay determined the ball was still on his hand when the clock ran out, negating the shot and confirming overtime.
The tone for the overtime period was set on the first possession s Woodard was fouled shooting a three-point shot, earning him three free throws, all of which he made, putting the Lions up to stay. With the Lions up 80-77, a three by Eastmond doubled the SLU lead. From there, the Lions slowly opened the lead at the free throw line with a pair of free throws by Caldwell with 22 second left put SLU up 87-79, solidifying the win as nine of Southeastern's 14 points in the extra five minutes came from the charity stripe.
"I've got to give Lamar credit," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer, "I thought Lamar was very physical tonight and made shots. We weren't very physical defensively and never really made it hard on them. I am proud of our guys still finding a way at the end to win the game.
Nick Caldwell had some huge defensive stops and finishes for us late. We will continue to get better defensively and move on to the next one."
Woodard had an efficient night, hitting four of his six shots, all from above the arc, and hit four of his five three throw attempts to finish the night with 16 points to go with five rebounds. McFarlane also had 16 points as he finished just two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight boards to go with five assists. Eastmond hit six shots, including several key ones down the stretch, to finish with 15 points and four assists. Caldwell, whose play late was key in the win, finished with 15 points as well as he hit five of his seven attempts, including his only three-point attempt, and was four of six at the free throw line while grabbing five rebounds and had a career high six steals. Rowbury picked up his second double-double of the season, dropping in 11 points and tied his season high by grabbing 12 rebounds for the second straight game.
Southeastern finished the game hitting 41.2% from the field, including 34.5% from three as the Lions hit ten of the 29 attempts from distance. SLU was able to get to the foul line, hitting 23 of their 33 attempts at the stripe. Lamar hit 51.6% from the field, and 50% from three after entering the game hitting below 30% from above the arc. The Cardinals were awarded just 11 free throws in the game, hitting eight of them.
The Lions (8-8, 2-1 SLC) return to action on Thursday on the road for the first time in 2023, heading to south Texas for a date with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tip-off against the Islanders (10-6, 3-0 SLC) is set for 7:30 P.M. at the American Bank Center and the game will be live streamed 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.
