NICEVILLE, Fla. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team had the first half it wanted in its Emerald Coast Classic finale, hitting more than 60% of its shots in the period, but the shots didn't fall in the second half, dooming the Lions to a 91-77 defeat to the Tennessee State Tigers Saturday morning at the Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College.
Southeastern (1-5) did not get out to the immediate start it wanted, falling behind 8-0 before
Alec Woodard hit a three-pointer to get the Lions on the board just more than a minute into the contest. That three kicked off an 11-2 SLU run as Southeastern took its first lead of the contest at 11-10 on a layup by
Nick Caldwell with 16:20 left in the period. Leading 27-25 with less than 9:30 remaining before halftime, a three-pointer by
Roger McFarlane kicked off a 13-3 SLU run, capped by a free throw by
Anthony Bittar with 4:38 to go before halftime which gave the Lions their largest lead of the contest at 40-28. But the Tigers (5-2) got some momentum going into the break by outscoring the Lions 15-8 over the final 4:30, cutting the SLU lead down to 48-43 at the break.
The momentum Tennessee State built at the end of the first half continued into the second half, starting the last 20 minutes on a 9-3 run to reclaim the lead at 52-51. A pair of
Nick Caldwell free throws gave the Lions the lead back at 53-52 with 18:13 left in the game, but that would be Southeastern's final lead of the contest as TSU went on a 21-6 run to go up 73-59 with 9:10 remaining in the contest. Three minutes later, the Tiger lead reached its peak at 81-63 on a made free throw. However, the Tigers missed the back half of the foul shots and Woodard grabbed the rebound. That led to a transition layup by Bittar which seemed to spark the SLU offense as the Lions went on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit down to 11 points at 83-72 with just more four minutes remaining. But Southeastern would get no closer as Tennessee State pushed the lead back up to 15 and held the Lions off the rest of the way.
All 12 Southeastern players who entered the game got at least one point with eight scoring at least six points. They were led by McFarlane, who scored a game-high 20 points as he hit seven of his 14 shot attempts and four of eight from above the three-point arc while hitting both of his free throw attempts. He also grabbed five rebounds and had an assist and a steal in the contest. McFarlane was the lone Lion to score 10 or more points with Caldwell as the next highest scorer at nine points with three makes from the field and three of four at the free throw line. Caldwell grabbed two rebounds, blocked two Tiger shots, and had an assist.
Roscoe Eastmond hit four of his five shot attempts for eight points and had a team-high six assists with two steals and two rebounds.
SLU hit 61.3% of its shots in the first half, including 71.4% from three in the first 20 minutes, but that came down quickly in the second half as the Lions hit 30.4% from the field and 12.5% from three in the last 20 minutes. The Lions ended the game hitting 48.1% from the field overall and 40% from three. Southeastern also collected 19 assists on its 26 made baskets. Tennessee State hit 45.1% from the field and 31.3% in the first half and raised that by hitting 58.3% from the field and 50% from above the arc in the second half. The Tigers finished the game hitting 50.8% of their shots overall and 36.4% from three in the game.
With the five-game road trip now behind them, the Lions hope home cooking will help end the five-game losing streak when Southern-New Orleans comes to Hammond, America on Tuesday. Tip-off of Tuesday's game against the Knights (0-9) is set for 6:00 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center. Tuesday's game against SUNO will be live streamed on ESPN+ while fans can listen to the radio broadcast on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area, worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or on the smart device on the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats of Tuesday's game will also be available on LionSports.net.
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.
