NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team held the advantage for the most of the night in a battle with the Southland co-leaders Northwestern State, but a 13-0 run in the late stages of the second half proved costly in an 81-76 loss to the Demons Thursday night at Prather Coliseum.
After NSU scored on the game's opening possession,
Roger McFarlane answered with a three on Southeastern's opening possession to give the Lions the lead, a lead the Lions held for the majority of the game and the first three of eight straight SLU points as
Boogie Anderson's first bucket of the game made it 8-2 Lions less than two minutes into the contest. The Demons scored the next five to make it a one-point game, but NSU lost McFarlane on an inbounds play and he easily scored, starting a run of seven straight points by the Lions which was part of a larger 11-2 SLU run as a
Nick Caldwell layup gave SLU its first double digit lead of the game at 19-9 with 13 minutes left in the first half.
SLU maintained that advantage throughout the majority of the first half, seeing NSU cut it down to as little as six points but answering each Demon push to get it back to 10. A three-pointer by
Matthew Strange off an
Alec Woodard assist got the lead over 10 for the first time at 32-21with just less than 6:30 left before halftime. The Lions' lead hit its peak with just more than a minute left before the break as a pair of free throws by
Brody Rowbury put Southeastern up 43-29. The Demons scored the final four points of the period to make it a 43-33 SLU lead as the two teams went to the locker room.
After both teams struggled in the opening minutes of the second half, the Lions pushed the lead back out to 13 points as a Woodard three-pointer put SLU up 48-35 with less than 17 minutes left in the contest. A 10-2 NSU run got the Demons back within five points at 50-45 Lions with less than 13:30 left, but Southeastern answered right back as a McFarlane layup and a Caldwell three gave SLU a 10-point lead once again at 55-45 with 12 minutes remaining. SLU maintained that advantage over the next five minutes as Anderson completed an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Lions up 67-57 with 7:32 left in the game.
But that's where NSU got hot and SLU went cold, sending the Demons on the 13-0 run, giving the Demons the lead for the first time since 2-0 at 70-67 with four minutes to go. SLU tied the score back up at 72-72 on a made free throw by Woodard. SLU kept it a one-possession game down to the closing seconds as the Lions looked to tie in the closing seconds, but an offensive foul negated SLU's final possession and free throws closed out the game.
Anderson, Woodard, and Caldwell all led the Lions with 16 points each. Anderson hit seven of his 14 shot attempts and went two-of-three at the stripe while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists. Woodard was very efficient as he hit five of his six shots, including both of his three-point attempts, and was four-of-five at the stripe while grabbing three rebounds and doling out two assists. Caldwell went seven-of 13 from the field, hit his lone three-point attempt and his lone free throw attempt and had three steals. McFarlane hit on five of ten shot attempts, including a three, for 11 points while finishing with a team-high eight rebounds. All eight SLU players who got on the court scored at least one basket.
Both teams hit on exactly 50% of their shots in the contest and the Lions held the best three-point shooting team in the Southland to just 27.3% from three while hitting on 46.7% of their own three-point attempts. However, turnovers were key in allowing the comeback as NSU turned 14 Southeastern miscues into 17 points while SLU collected seven turnovers from the Demons which turned into six points. Another key was taking advantage of second chance opportunities as the Demons turned 11 offensive rebounds into 16 points while the Lions turned 10 offensive rebounds into four points.
The Lions (14-13, 8-6 SLC) look to end the four-game skid on Saturday evening against the new Lions to the Southland, Texas A&M-Commerce. Tip-off of Saturday's contest against A&M-Commerce (11-16, 7-6 SLC) is set for 4:30 p.m. at The Field House in Commerce 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.
