LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team appeared to be taking over, starting the second half on a 10-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, but issues clearing the glass and hitting from the free throw line proved fatal in a 69-66 loss to the McNeese State Cowboys Thursday night at Joe Dumars Court at the Legacy Center.
Southeastern was slow out the gate, finding itself trailing 10-2 after four minutes of play before an
Alec Woodard transition pull-up three started a 10-1 Lions run that
Boogie Anderson capped with a layup which gave SLU its first lead of the contest at 12-11 with 13 minutes left in the first half.
McNeese answered to giving up the lead right back in a big way, hitting three straight three-pointers to kick off a 14-2 Cowboy run which gave McNeese its largest lead of the contest at 25-14 with 10 minutes to go before halftime. After trading buckets to make it 27-16, back-to-back
Brody Rowbury layups and a
Matthew Strange three made it a four-point deficit with 5:30 left before halftime, the first seven points of a 15-5 SLU run as Anderson completed an old-fashioned three-point play to give Southeastern the lead back at 32-31 with 2:44 left before halftime. McNeese scored five of the final seven points in the period and the Cowboys took a 36-34 lead into the halftime locker room.
Anderson came out looking to take over at the start of the second half as he scored eight of SLU's 10 points during the 10-2 Lions run which started the latter period, helping Southeastern jump out to a 44-38 lead just more than 4:30 into the stanza. But McNeese had another immediate answer, scoring six straight and eight of the next nine to reclaim the lead before layups by Anderson and Rowbury got the Lions in front by three, 49-46, with 12 minutes left.
McNeese hit a three to tie the score and then
Roger McFarlane got to the rim to put SLU back in front again, but the Cowboys scored the next eight to reclaim a lead they would not surrender again. Over the next few minutes, each time Southeastern cut the deficit to one possession, McNeese went on a run to open the lead back up, eventually getting it up to nine points with 3:29 left at 67-58.
SLU had one last run in them to try and take the contest as Woodard found McFarlane for a layup which started an 8-0 Lions run which saw the deficit cut to just a single point on a jumper by
Nick Caldwell with 35 seconds left. After McNeese split a pair at the free throw line, Southeastern had a chance to tie or take the lead with the shot clock off, but a floater in the lane wouldn't fall and the rebound was tied up with just less than two seconds left with the possession arrow pointing to the Cowboys. After McNeese again went one of two at the stripe, SLU's heave at the buzzer to tie was too strong and fell aside.
Anderson fell just two points shy of tying his season high, finishing with 21 points as he hit 10 of his season high-tying 17 shot attempts. Woodard was five-of-seven from the field and finished with 12 point and three steals. McFarlane rounded out the night with 11 points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
Roscoe Eastmond completed his night with a game-high six assists.
While hitting more shots in the contest than McNeese, 28-24, and shooting for a higher percentage, 46.7% to 42.9%, Southeastern was undone on the glass and at the free throw line. The Cowboys out-rebounded SLU 45-26, including 12-3 on the offensive glass which led to a 13-2 advantage in second chance points for McNeese. SLU also struggled mightily at the charity stripe, hitting just five of their 13 attempts at the line while McNeese went 13 for 20 at the free throw line in the game.
The Lions (14-11, 8-4 SLC) look to end their first losing streak since before Christmas on Saturday as they look to avenge a loss against one of the teams involved in that pre-Christmas losing streak, Nicholls State. Nicholls knocked off Southeastern 88-73 to open Southland Conference play for both teams back on Dec. 15
th. Tip-off of Saturday's contest against the Colonels (12-11, 7-4 SLC) is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be live streamed on ESPN+. Saturday's contest is sponsored by Tangipahoa Parish Tourism and following the contest, fans can get the autographs of their favorite Lions and Lady Lions basketball team members.
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.
