HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team had the feel-good game it was looking for to end the five-game losing streak, jumping out to an early 20-2 lead and never looked back with
Nick Caldwell scoring his 1,000
th career point in a dominant 101-55 win over the Southern-New Orleans Knights Tuesday night at the Pride Roofing University Center.
Caldwell came out on fire to start the game, scoring the game's first seven points as Southeastern (2-5) never trailed in the contest. SUNO (0-9) got on the board just about three minutes into the contest on a lay-up to make it 7-2, but the Lions opened the game up from there as a free throw by
Roger McFarlane started a 13-0 SLU run with an
Alec Woodard three-pointer gave Southeastern a 20-2 lead with less than 13:30 remaining in the first half. SLU's first half lead reached its peak at 25 points as
Kam Burton hit a jumper in transition to put the Lions up 36-11 with seven minutes left before the break.
The Knights had their first bit of an answer after, going on a 12-3 run to cut the lead down to 16 at 39-23 with four minutes remaining in the period. A Caldwell three started a 9-0 Southeastern run as a McFarlane floater in the paint got the lead back up to 25 at 48-23 with two minutes left. The two teams traded buckets with a
Carlos Paez floater putting SLU up 50-25 before SUNO scored the half's final three points on free throws to make the halftime score 50-28 Lions.
Paez, making his first start of the season, opened the second half scoring with a three-pointer, only to see the Knights score the next four to cut the Lion lead down to 21 points at 53-32 less than two minutes into the period. Another McFarlane shot in the paint got the Lions rolling again as an
Avery Wilson three-ball capped a 9-0 Southeastern run to give SLU a 30-point lead for the first time at 62-32.
SUNO had another push, cutting the Lion lead down to 24 at 66-42 and again at 68-44 before another Caldwell lay-up started a 22-5 run to get the lead over 40 for the first time at 90-49 as Woodard got free in the paint for a lay-up with just more than four minutes left. SLU's largest lead of the game came on the game's final points as
Kam Burton nailed a three-pointer which put Southeastern over the century-mark for the first time in nearly a year and capped the scoring for both teams.
"I thought our guys came out tonight with a sense of urgency," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer. "After a very disappointing showing last game in Florida, I expected our guys to come out tonight with some more energy and toughness. I thought for the most part we did that tonight. Now we have tow days to get prepared and get ourselves ready to go again against a really good SEC team."
Caldwell entered the game 23 points shy of 1,000 in his career, and got it all done in the contest, finishing with exactly 23 points as he hit 10 of 15 from the field, including three of his four attempts from above the three-point arc. He also grabbed six rebounds and had four steals. Burton took advantage of his extended playing time, scoring a season high 19 points, hitting six of his 14 field goal attempts and four of 10 from three to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Wilson hit seven of his 12 shot attempts, including one of two from three, for 16 points while collecting three rebounds, three steals, an assist, and blocked a shot. McFarlane hit five of his 10 shot attempts on his way to 11 points with a team-high seven rebounds while adding a pair of assists. Paez and
Roscoe Eastmond both scored nine points and dished out seven assists while Paez also grabbed six rebounds with two steals and Eastmond gathered up three steals.
Tuesday's game was the first where SLU scored at least 100 points since a 107-71 win over Belhaven on Dec. 7, 2022. Southeastern connected on 50% or more of its shots in both halves against the Knights, finishing the game hitting at a 51.3% clip while also hitting on 41.2% of their attempts from above the three-point arc while collected 26 assists on 40 made baskets. The SLU defense also forced an opponent into 20 or more turnovers for the second time in three games, forcing 26 turnovers with 19 steals in the win. SUNO scored on 40.4% of its shots while hitting just 17.6% from three, including missing all seven of their long-distance attempts in the second half. The Knights had 11 assists on their 21 made baskets.
With this home game behind them, the Lions now embark on a four-game road trip, three of which staying within the borders of the state of Louisiana. The first game of the road trip is Friday as Southeastern makes the 45-minute drive over to Baton Rouge for the first of two-straight in the state capital, taking on LSU. Tip-off of Friday's contest with the Tigers (4-3) is set for 6:00 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The game will be live streamed on SEC Network+ with a radio broadcast available on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area or worldwide on LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org. You can also hear the SLU radio broadcast on your smart device through the Lions Gameday Experience app. The TuneIn Radio add, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats of Friday's game will also be available.
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.
