BATON ROUGE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team held LSU without a made field goal over the final seven minutes of Friday night's game, but the Tigers got enough free throws down the stretch to hold off a furious Lions rally in a 73-66 loss at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game's opening 10:45 was very even as the two teams went almost shot for shot, leading to eight ties and four lead changes during that time span. As LSU (5-3) scored the first basket, that stretch led to Southeastern (2-6) tying the score and LSU retaking the lead numerous times until the Lions put four points together with
Nick Caldwell getting to the basket for a lay-up to tie the score at 13-13 before a missed LSU three turned into a lay-up by
Roger McFarlane, giving SLU its first lead of the contest at 15-13 with 15 minutes remaining in the opening period. The Tigers scored the next four to regain the lead at 17-15 before a jumper by McFarlane knotted things back up and then a Caldwell three gave the Lions their largest lead at 20-17 with 11:20 to go before the break.
That would be Southeastern's last lead of the night as LSU scored the next six to reclaim the lead for good. SLU hung around over the next few minutes, keeping the game within two scores until, with LSU leading 29-27 with less than 4:30 left before halftime, a three-pointer started a 7-0 LSU run to give the Tigers some distance at 36-27 with three minutes to go before the break. SLU cut the deficit down to four points as
Kam Burton sank a transition three with 1:30 remaining to make it 36-32 Tigers, but LSU responded with a three of its own to get the lead back up to seven on the final points of the first period as LSU took a 39-32 lead into the break.
Caldwell hit a pair of free throws to open the second half scoring, but SLU went into a drought from there as LSU went on an 11-1 run to open the largest lead of the contest at 50-35 a little more than four minutes into the back half. But McFarlane tried to will the Lions back into the contest by hitting a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to cut the deficit down to 10 and open a 10-2 SLU run which Caldwell capped with another lay-up to make the score 52-45 LSU with 13 minutes remaining in the contest.
LSU pushed the lead back to 11 about 90 seconds later at 56-45, but
Roscoe Eastmond pulled up into a jumper, which he splashed home to kick off a 7-1 Lion run, cutting the deficit back down to five points as
Carlos Paez found
Alec Woodard in a hole behind the defense for an easy lay-up to make it 57-52 LSU with 8:20 left. The Tigers seemed to finally get the space needed as a 7-0 LSU run followed to make the score 64-52 with 4:30 remaining.
However, an improbable sequence on the ensuing possession allowed the Lions back into the contest. It started with LSU being whistled for an intentional foul. Paez made the two free throws and possession was returned to Southeastern. As SLU tried to inbound the ball, a second intentional foul was whistled against the Tigers, sending Paez right back to the line where he made both again and the Lions were given the ball right back. This time, a play was run and Paez popped open for a shot from straight away for three, but he was crashed into on the attempt, giving him three more free throws. All told in that one possession, Paez took seven free throw attempts and made all of them, turning a 12-point deficit into a five-point game with less than 15 seconds coming off the clock during the sequence.
SLU made it a one possession lead as, following a LSU miss, Eastmond got to the rim for a lay-up, making it 64-61 Tigers with just less than 3:30 left. Little more than a minute later, after LSU made one of two at the stripe, Caldwell was fouled and he made a pair of free throws to make the score 65-63 LSU with 2:19 left in the game. However, even as the SLU defense kept LSU from making field goals, the Lions offense also went cold as Southeastern only hit one more shot in the contest, a three-pointer from Caldwell with less than 30 seconds left, and LSU made free throws down the stretch to pull away for the win.
Caldwell was the game's top scorer as he stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, eight rebounds, two steals, a block, and an assist. He hit six of his 13 field goal attempts, including two of six from above the arc, and four of five at the free throw line. McFarlane warmed up late and finished with 12 points while also grabbing eight rebounds and snatching a pair of steals. He was four of 13 from the field, two of nine from three, and made both of his free throw attempts. Eastmond rounded out the top scorers for Southeastern with 10 points to go with five assists, three rebounds, and a steal. Eastmond hit four of his 10 shot attempts, two-of-six from deep. Woodard finished with nine points, four rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Paez finished with seven points, all coming in that one sequence which gave SLU a chance to rally late. He added four assists and two rebounds to his stat line as well.
After starting hot in the game, things started slowing down, leading to the Lions shooting 42.4% in the first half but then 28.6% in the second half, finishing the game at 36.1% shooting overall. From three, Southeastern hit 30.8% in the first half and 22.2% in the second half to finish at 25.8% in the game. After not taking a free throw at all in the first half, SLU made 14 of their 16 attempts at the charity stripe in the second half for an 87.5% free throw percentage in the game. LSU started even hotter, hitting 60.9% from the field and 46.2% from three in the first half, but also cooled down considerably in the second half, hitting 36.4% from the field and just 20% from three in the last 20 minutes. The Tigers hit 21 of their 29 free throw attempts in the contest, hitting 16 of 23 attempts at the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes.
With their first trip to Baton Rouge now behind them, the Lions now have a week off before returning to the state capital next Saturday, December 9
th for a match-up with Southern. Tip-off of the game against the Jaguars (1-6) is set for 5:30 p.m. in the F.G. Clark Activity Center and it will be live streamed through the Jaguar Sports Network.
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.
