HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team plays its final full weekend of games for the regular season with a split week, trying to better its seeding for the Jersey Mike's 2023 Southland Conference Basketball Championships presented by Louisiana Travel, going to Lamar on Thursday before returning home for the final time this season on Saturday against McNeese.
 
Southeastern (15-13, 9-6 SLC) is looking to build off an exhilarating, double buzzer-beating 78-76 overtime win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday where Matthew Strange hit a three at the buzzer to force overtime and then Boogie Anderson put up a shot at the horn in the extra period which went in for the game-winning points, points that also gave Anderson a new season-high with 24 points in the Battle of the Lions where he also dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
 
Roger McFarlane picked up his fifth double-double of the season in Saturday's win and second against A&M-Commerce, scoring 16 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Brody Rowbury hit all five of his shot attempts and both free throws to finish with 12 points along with six boards. Alec Woodard scored 11 points to go with five boards and three assists. Nick Caldwell finished the game against A&M-Commerce with 10 points and six rebounds.
 
Anderson continues to lead the Lions in scoring, 13.8 points per game, assists, 4.3 per game, and steals, 1.3. McFarlane averages 11.7 points per game while grabbing a team-leading eight rebounds per game. Caldwell puts in 11 points per game while leading SLU in blocked shots, averaging 0.8 rejections a contest.
 
Southeastern averages 77.3 points per game on 45.6% shooting as a team and hits 36.5% from three on the year. SLU's opponents average 76.8 points per game and hit on 46.5% of their shots overall along with 38.2% from three.
 
On Thursday, the Lions head to Beaumont looking to finish the season sweep of Lamar (9-19, 5-10 SLC), who they defeated 89-84 in overtime back on Jan. 7^th. The Cardinals are coming off of a split week with Houston Christian where they dropped the second game to the Huskies on the road, 93-74. Nate Calmese led Lamar with 23 points while Chris Pryor added 13 points. Jason Thirdkill, Jr. came off the bench to score 11 points and grab 7 rebounds against the Huskies.
 
Calmese leads the Cardinals averaging 17.6 points per game on 47.8% shooting. Pryor is the only other Lamar player averaging double figures who's played more than 10 games this season, averaging 10.6 points per game while leading Lamar in assists at 3.9 per contest.
 
Lamar averages 68 points per game on 43.2% shooting as a team while hitting 31.7% from three. Their opponents average 74.3 points per game on 44.7% shooting while hitting 34.2% from three this season. Tip-off of Thursday's game against the Cardinals is set for 7:00 p.m. from the Montagne Center and will be live streamed on ESPN+.
 
Saturday will be Senior Day and Alumni Day inside the University Center as the newest Lions for Life are welcomed to the group while the fellow members are in the arena as Southeastern looks to earn a season split against McNeese. McNeese knocked off the Lions 69-66 on Feb. 9^th.
 
The Cowboys (8-20, 5-10 SLC) enter the week looking to get back on the winning path when they play at Houston Christian on Thursday after their three-game win streak was ended on Saturday at home by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 77-54. Johnathan Massie led McNeese in the loss to the Islanders with 20 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Christian Shumate finished with 16 points, six rebounds, and a blocked shot.
 
Shumate leads McNeese with 13.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting 56.1% from the field and 34.2% from three. Zach Scott scores 11.4 points per game. Trae English scores 10.8 points while leading the Cowboys in assists with 3.6 dimes per contest.
 
Tip-off of Saturday's contest against the Cowboys is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be live streamed on ESPN3. Boogie Anderson, Matthew Strange, and Christian Agnew will be honored as the newest members of the Lions for Life as will managers Deuce Woodson and Jamar Gant.
 
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.