LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team suffered through another slow start, but
Alec Woodard's career high nearly dug the Lions out of the hole, however it was too much to overcome in a 74-65 loss to the McNeese State Cowboys Saturday evening in the Legacy Center.
McNeese (14-2, 3-0 SLC) hit a three on its opening possession, and then
Nick Caldwell hit a pair of free throws to get Southeastern (6-10, 1-2 SLC) back within a point at 3-2. However, the Cowboys scored the next nine points to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 12-2 before
Roger McFarlane got into the paint and scored SLU's first field goal of the game with 15:45 left in the first half. But that only slowed the McNeese run for a bit as the Cowboys scored the next eight points to complete a 17-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 20-4 with 14:10 left in the half.
The Lions answered with the next five points as McFarlane layup and a three-pointer by Caldwell made it 20-9. McNeese answered with the next five to get their lead back to its peak at 16 points, but SLU had its own response with an 8-2 run to get the deficit down to 10 points with just less than nine minutes left as Caldwell got to the rim for a layup which made it 27-17 Cowboys. For the rest of the first half, the McNeese lead bounced between 10 and 14 points with the Cowboys ultimately taking a 44-30 lead into the halftime locker room.
Even after
Roscoe Eastmond opened the scoring in the second half, the Cowboys extended their lead back out to 15 points at 47-32 and again at 49-34 with 17:40 remaining in the contest. But that's where Woodard started to heat up and Southeastern got back into the game as he hit a three-pointer to kick off a 19-6 Lions run, which he completed with another three-pointer to cut the deficit all the way down to just two points at 55-53 with 8:30 left. Woodard hit three of his six made three-pointers in the contest during the run while McFarlane scored on two shots from distance as well during that push.
However, that's where the run ran out of gas as McNeese started to answer each Lion basket to keep and then slowly start to extend the lead back out. After a pair of free throws by Woodard made the score 58-55 McNeese with six minutes left, the Cowboys ran off five-straight points to get the margin back up to eight points and the Lions couldn't get it back down to a one-possession game again as late free throws helped McNeese get the advantage back up to 11 points before a
Kam Burton three-pointer secured the game's final points for SLU.
Woodard finished the game with 20 points, a new single game career high for the grad student, while his six made threes in the game was also the most in a game since joining Southeastern. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists, and had a steal. McFarlane picked up his fourth double-double of the season, and third in the last four games, as he finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The 11 boards marked his fourth-straight game with double-digits in rebounds. He also dished out five assists and had a steal. Caldwell matched McFarlane with 13 points as he hit four of his seven shot attempts, including a three, and was four-of-five at the free throw line. Caldwell also grabbed two rebounds and had an assist.
Southeastern hit 42.9% of their shots in the contest, including 52.4% in the last 20 minutes. SLU hit 12 three-pointers, the most against a Division I opponent this season and only two fewer than the season-high of 14 which came against Southern-New Orleans.
After three-straight road games opened Southland Conference play, the Lions now return home to Hammond, America for three-straight, starting on Monday as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to town. Tip-off of Monday's contest against the Islanders (9-7, 2-1 SLC) is set for 6 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center and the SLU athletics department will "Welcome BACK" students to campus from the semester break. Monday's game will also be live streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will also be available at lionsports.net.
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.
