STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team got a career high-tying five made three pointers from sophomore guard
Kam Burton, but a late second half drought was too much to overcome in an 80-59 loss to the (RV)/(RV) Mississippi State Bulldogs Tuesday night at Adkerson Court at Humphrey Coliseum.
Southeastern (1-2) shot 40.7 percent in the first half, but cooled off considerably in the last 20 minutes, hitting just 29.6 percent of their shots in the second half. All told, the Lions finished the game shooting 35.2 percent from the field. SLU hit nine shots from above the three-point arc while hitting at a 36 percent clip. A big issue for the Lions was turnovers, giving it up 19 times in the contest, which resulted in 16 Mississippi State points.
The Bulldogs (3-0), who are receiving votes in both the Associated Press Poll and
USA Today Coaches Poll, hit 43 percent in both halves on their way to a 43.5 percent shooting night. MSU was cold from deep, hitting just 25 percent from three-point range. The Bulldogs also protected the ball well, turning it over just 11 times, which turned into seven SLU points.
Burton led the Lions with 17 points, just two off of his career high of 19 points which was set last year against Southern-New Orleans. He was six of 11 from the field, five makes and 10 attempts coming from above the three-point arc, tying his career high in made threes. It's the third time he's hit five long distance shots in a game, once in the aforementioned game against SUNO and at Incarnate Word last season.
Sam Hines, Jr. was the lone other Lion to reach double-figures in scoring as he finished the game with 14 points on four-of-10 shooting and was six-of-10 from the free throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds and had a team-high five assists with a steal.
Brody Rowbury was the team's top rebounder with nine boards while
Jeremy Elyzee joined Hines with six.
Jakevion Buckley grabbed five rebounds.
Southeastern found itself in an early 5-0 hole, but the free throw line started to get the Lions going as Hines, Jr. and Buckley both made a pair at the stripe to kick off a 9-2 SLU run to take their lone lead of the game at 9-7 after Hines, Jr. split a pair of free throws with 14 minutes left in the first half.
Mississippi State scored the next four to reclaim the lead. The Lions matched the Bulldogs for the next couple possessions as
CJ Booker got to the rim for a layup to tie the score at 11-11, and then Burton answered a MSU three-ball with one of his own to make it 14-14 with 12 minutes to go before halftime. That would be the final time the game would be tied.
The Bulldogs regained the lead on the next possession, but Southeastern would not allow Mississippi State to just pull away. It took nearly seven more minutes for the Bulldogs to get their first double-digit lead of the game at 34-23, but that was quickly answered by another Burton three. Burton hit a second to make it six-straight Lion points, all off Burton threes, to make it 34-29 with 3:45 to go.
MSU answered with its own 6-0 run to reclaim another 11-point lead at 40-29, but Burton had the answer again on the SLU ensuing possession by hitting another triple. That started a half-ending 8-0 Southeastern run as Rowbury hit a pair of free throws and Booker hit a three of his own shortly before the buzzer sounded to pull the Lions back within three points at 40-37 at the break.
Hines, Jr. answered a Mississippi State bucket to start the half with a turnaround jumper to get Southeastern back within three points at 42-39 just 90 seconds into the second half, but that's where the Bulldogs started to regain control. Mississippi State went on a 12-0 run from that moment to grow its advantage up to 15 points at 54-39 before
Kyle Edison hit a three to end the drought.
The Bulldog lead grew to 16 points at 58-42 before Elyzee hit a pair of free throws to start a 10-2 SLU run as the Lions got the deficit back under double-digits as Hines, Jr. split a pair of free throws to make it 60-52 with 8:35 left in the game.
That would be as close as Southeastern would get for the rest of the contest as Mississippi State scored the next eight to push the lead out to 16 again at 68-52 with 5:30 to go. SLU cut it down to 12 with four minutes left as Booker found Burton behind the defense for a fastbreak lay-up which made it 71-59, but that would be SLU's last points in the game as Mississippi State closed the contest on a 9-0 run.
Southeastern gets a bit of a rest and practice in before their next contest, which isn't until Mon., Nov. 18 as the Lions head to Monroe for the third of their 10-game road trip to take on Louisiana-Monroe. Tip-off of Monday's game against the Warhawks (1-3) is set for 6:30 p.m. in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The game against ULM will be televised on ESPN+ while a radio broadcast will also be available, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide on LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or you can listen to the game on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will also be available through the host institution.
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.
