HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team used transition play to jump out to an early advantage and saw all 10 players who played score at least one field goal with six scoring 10 or more points in a 90-71 season-opening win over the Delta State Statesmen Monday night at the Pride Roofing University Center.
Delta State scored on its opening possession to take its only lead of the night, and only enjoyed that lead for a several seconds as
Nick Caldwell got a jumper in the paint to fall to tie the score at 2-2, starting a 13-4 Lions run which ended with a lay-up in transition by
Roscoe Eastmond which put Southeastern (1-0) up 13-6 with 16:00 left in the opening period.
With SLU leading 15-10, a steal by Caldwell got
Roger McFarlane out on the fastbreak and he finished with a lay-up to kick off an 18-5 run, culminating in a transition bucket by
Anthony Bittar to make the score 33-17 with 7:15 left before halftime. The Lions slowly opened the score further to close out the half with another Eastmond transition lay-up with less than a minute left giving Southeastern its largest lead of the first period while also representing the final points of the half as the Lions took a 48-25 lead into the locker room.
Southeastern maintained that advantage during the opening moments of the second half as a
Brody Rowbury lay-up gave SLU a 52-29 edge little more than 90 seconds in to the period. However, Delta State started to chip away at the Lion lead. With Southeastern leading 62-43 following a pair of
Kam Burton free throws, the Statesmen went on a 14-4 run to get the deficit down to single digits for the first time since there was 12:15 left in the first half at 66-57 after hitting a three-pointer with 9:45 left in the contest.
But the Lions had the answer to put the game out of reach as, three possessions later, Caldwell got in the lane again and scored to kick off a 13-0 SLU run, culminating in a jumper from the free throw line by
Avery Wilson giving the Lions a 79-57 lead with 6:00 left. From there, Southeastern answered every score Delta State put up, culminating with a bucket by Bittar for the game's final points and the 90-71 SLU win.
McFarlane led the scoring barrage for Southeastern with a team-high 14 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Eastmond and Caldwell both went six-of-eight from the field as both finished with 13 points. Eastmond had four assists and three rebounds while Caldwell added four rebounds, a block, and a steal. In his return to action after three years of injuries kept him from the court, Wilson hit four of his six shots from the field and finished with 11 points, three rebounds, and an assist. Rowbury and Woodard both finished with 10 points. Rowbury went five-of-six from the field, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out an assist, and had a steal while Woodard went four-of-six and hit both of his attempts from above the three-point arc. He also had three rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Southeastern went 21-of-27 in the first half for a 77.8% shooting percentage while 11 of its first 22 points in the contest were scored in transition. The shooting percentage came down a bit in the second half and SLU finished the game hitting on 62.1% of its shots, including 40% from above the three-point arc. The Lions defense held Delta State to 38.4% shooting in the contest, including 16.2% from above the arc. With the Division II season not officially starting until Friday, this game was an exhibition for Delta State.
The Lions now start a five-game road trip this Friday as they head to Alabama for a date with Auburn. Tip time of Friday's game against the Tigers (0-0) is set for 7:00 p.m. at Neville Arena. The game will be live streamed on the SEC Network+ with live stats also 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.
