MONROE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team overcame a second half drought which allowed Louisiana-Monroe to erase a double-digit lead, only for the Lions to close it out with key buckets late for a 70-67 win over the Warhawks Monday night at the Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Southeastern (2-2) had one of its best nights shooting, hitting better than 50 percent in both halves to finish at 54.7 percent from the field. The Lions got what they wanted inside, scoring 42 points in the paint, helping overcome a slow night from long range where SLU hit 28.6 percent for three on the night. ULM (2-4) hit nearly 60 percent in the second half to nearly overcome their slow start. The Warhawks finished hitting 47.2 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. Both teams scored 20 points off of turnovers.
Jakevion Buckley hit seven of his 10 shot attempts on his way to a team-high 16 points. He also dished out five assists, grabbed two rebounds, and came up with two steals.
Sam Hines, Jr. picked up his first double-double as a Lion, hitting seven of his 14 shots on the night to finish the game with 14 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. He also had an assist in the contest.
Thomas Tut came off the bench to score 11 points as he made five of his eight shots from the field, including a made three-pointer. He also had a rebound, a block, and an assist.
Brody Rowbury was four-of-five from the field to finish with 10 points along with seven rebounds while getting two steals and an assist. His steal and free throws with five seconds left, his only two attempts from the charity stripe in the contest, helped secure the win.
Southeastern led 60-50 with 7:45 remaining when ULM went off on an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the second half at 61-60 with four minutes left.
Carlos Paez worked his way into the paint and left it off to an open Hines, Jr., who dunked the ball to put the Lions back ahead 62-61.
After the Warhawks went one of two at the free throw line to tie the score again, 62-62, with 2:57 left, Buckley worked his way to the rim for a lay-up which gave SLU the lead for good at 64-62.
Several possessions later, Southeastern seemed to take the control of the contest again as
Jeremy Elyzee came through with a pair of clutch free throws, putting SLU up 66-62 with less than a minute left.
ULM got a lay-up of its own to make it a two-point game again, only to have Buckley get to the rim again and score another lay-up to reestablish the four-point edge at 68-64 with 40 seconds left.
The Warhawks hit a three to make it a one-point game with 20 seconds left and, after forcing a SLU turnover, had a chance to get ahead. But active hands by Rowbury above the three-point arc popped the ball free, which he grabbed and was immediately fouled with five seconds left. He sank both of the ensuing free throws and the defense forced a heave at the buzzer from an awkward angle which was off the mark to secure the win.
The start to the game was as well as Southeastern could have hoped for. After giving up the opening bucket, a lay-up by Buckley started a 10-0 Lion run as a jumper by
CJ Booker gave SLU a 10-2 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half.
ULM answered with a 16-3 run to take its largest lead of the night at 18-13 with 10 minutes left before halftime.
SLU responded to that with its biggest run of the night, a 15-0 push to go up 28-10 as Booker found Tut in transition for a dunk with six minutes remaining in the period. The Lions' largest lead of the half would be 11 points, which they hit twice, the first at 34-23 following a pair of free throws by Paez and then again at 36-25 following a fastbreak lay-up by Tut with less than a minute before halftime. Southeastern went to the break leading 36-26.
Southeastern's largest lead of the game came early in the second half as a three-pointer by Elyzee gave the Lions a 45-33 lead with 16:15 remaining in the contest.
ULM scored the next five points to cut the SLU lead down to seven points, but the Lions pushed the advantage back up to 11 points as a Buckley lay-up made the score 49-38. The lead would hit 11 once more at 52-41 as Booker hit a three-pointer with just less than 12 minutes remaining.
Southeastern continued to answer each push the Warhawks made until a steal by Booker turned into another Booker to Tut transition dunk gave SLU the 60-50 lead which led into the Warhawk comeback and subsequent close out by the Lions.
Southeastern now heads out for its three games of the Cancun Challenge, which starts on Friday in Laramie, Wyo. for a date with Wyoming. Tip-off of Friday's contest with the Cowboys (3-1) is set for 6:30 p.m. MST/7:30 p.m. CST at the Arena-Auditorium. The game will be televised on the Mountain West Network with a radio broadcast also 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.
