PUERTO AVENTURAS, Mexico – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team used a 21-2 run to turn a tie game into a 19-point lead late as the Lions pulled away for a 76-60 win over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks to end the Cancun Challenge Wednesday afternoon at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
"The Cancun Challenge was a first-class event," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer. "I thought it was a great experience for our team. I really wish we could replay that Gardner-Webb game, but I thought our response after that game to North Dakota was really good. We handled some injuries and some missing players on the trip and it was a total team effort."
Southeastern (3-4) had another good shooting contest, hitting 47.2 percent from the field in the contest while going eight-of-16, exactly 50 percent, from three-point range. 26 points came in the paint and 14 from second chance opportunities. The Lions turned 14 North Dakota turnovers into 19 SLU points.
SLU's three-point defense proved vital in the contest as the Fighting Hawks (3-4) hit just 31.6 percent from the field while connecting on just 21.2 percent from above the arc. More than half of North Dakota's shots on the day, 33 of 57, came from beyond the three-point arc. UND scored 18 points in the paint and had 13 second chance points. The Fighting Hawks turned 13 Lion turnovers into 17 UND points.
Sam Hines, Jr. fought through early foul trouble to finish seven-of-12 from the field, including hitting his only three-point attempt, for 17 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and had an assist, a steal, and a block.
Brody Rowbury ended the day with 13 points while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. He also blocked a shot.
Jakevion Buckley did most of his work while Hines, Jr. was out with the early foul trouble. He finished with 12 points, six rebounds, an team-highs in both assists, four, and steals, two.
Over the first 13 minutes of the game, the teams traded the lead back and forth six times with two ties. The largest lead for either team during that opening stretch was four points, which North Dakota did three times, once at 10-6, 13-9, and 16-12 with 11:30 left in the opening half.
With UND leading 18-17, Hines, Jr. hit a three-pointer and Southeastern stared its first run of the contest, scoring seven straight points to go up 24-18 as Hines, Jr. went up to get an inbounds pass and in one motion shot the ball for the score with just less than five minutes left before halftime.
SLU's largest lead of the first half came with 1:40 to go before the break as Hines, Jr. worked his way into the paint and scored on a lay-up, giving the Lions a 31-23 lead. UND outscored Southeastern 6-2 down the stretch, cutting that eight-point lead down to just four points as a buzzer-beating bucket by the Fighting Hawks made the halftime score 33-29 Lions.
Back-to-back buckets by Rowbury and
Carlos Paez to open the second half pushed Southeastern's lead back out to eight points at 37-29 less than 90 seconds into the second half. SLU's lead hit double-figures for the first time as Hines, Jr. collected a steal and pushed the advantage, getting the ball to
Kyle Edison who drained a three which made the score 46-36 with 15 minutes left in the contest. The Lions continued to hold that advantage by answering almost every UND bucket.
CJ Booker drew the defense in, leaving
Asher Boney wide open above the arc, and he hit his first triple of the season to put Southeastern up 52-42 with 12:30 to go.
But that's where North Dakota made its run to get back in the game, out-scoring the Lions 11-1 over the next 3:45 to get the score back even at 53-53.
This time, Southeastern's answer was big and final. Rowbury collected an offensive rebound and bullied his way to the rim, getting a hook shot to fall to end the run by the Fighting Hawks while at the same time starting the 21-2 SLU run. The 21-2 run was started by 12-straight Lion points as SLU's assertiveness started to pay off with fouls and trips to the free throw line. During the run of 12-straight points, SLU went eight-for-10 at the free throw line with the only field goals made during that time coming from Rowbury to start it and a lay-up by Hines, Jr. which ended the run.
A put-back dunk by North Dakota only slowed SLU's momentum as a pair of free throws by Rowbury started a run of nine-straight Lion points, which included a three by Paez, another pair of Rowbury free throws, and a lay-up by Paez which gave Southeastern a 74-55 lead with 1:15 left in the contest, SLU's largest lead of the game. UND scored five of the game's final seven points for the final margin.
With the trip to Mexico now complete, the final four games of Southeastern's 10-game road trip will all take place within the state of Louisiana, starting on Monday as the Lions head to New Orleans for a date with Tulane. Tip-off of Monday's game against the Green Wave (4-3), who also participated in this year's Cancun Challenge, is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
Monday's game against Tulane will be televised on ESPN+ 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.
