HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team hit 50 percent from the field and 10 of the 11 Lions who played scored with four in double figures to open the 2024-25 season with a 91-53 win over the William Carey Crusaders Monday night at the University Center.
Southeastern (1-0) was led by
Sam Hines, Jr., who had a very efficient night in his Lion debut, needing just 12 shots to hit 21 points, hitting eight of his attempts. He converted on all three of his three-point attempts and both of his free throws while grabbing five rebounds, dishing out a pair of assists, & coming up with two steals.
Jakevion Buckley, who also get his first action as a SLU player, went five of nine from the field for 18 points while dishing out a team-high five assists. He also had two rebounds, a block, and a steal.
Kyle Edison, another debuting Lion, went five of eight and finished with 15 points, six rebounds, a team-high three steals, and an assist.
Freshman
Jeremy Elyzee completed the night with 12 points on four of seven shooting with three rebounds, two assists, and a block.
Kam Burton grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Southeastern hit 50.8 percent from the field in the contest and 39.1 percent from three-point range. The SLU defense held William Carey (2-0) to 30 percent shooting overall and 21.2 percent from distance on the night. This game was an exhibition contest for the Crusaders and does not count to their record.
"It was nice to get those first game jitters out of our system," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer. "I thought our guys competed and played unselfishly. Now it's time to get ready to hit the road and see what we are made of."
SLU never trailed in the contest as
Thomas Tut scored the game's opening bucket to give the Lions an early 2-0 lead. The Crusaders tied the score at 2-2 a few possessions later, but on Southeastern's next possession, Hines hit a couple of free throws and the Lions would not surrender the lead for the remainder of the contest.
Those free throws by Hines started a 13-2 Southeastern run, giving the Lions their first double-digit lead of the contest as a three-pointer by
Kyle Edison put SLU up 15-4 just 6:45 into the contest. The next time SLU got the ball, their lead was back under 10 points, but it would not stay that way long as Buckley sank a mid-range jumper on that possession to make it 17-6 with 12:30 left in the first half and SLU would lead by at least 10 points for the remainder of the contest.
Southeastern really opened the advantage towards the end of the first half. Leading 19-9 with less than 10 minutes left before halftime, a lay-up by Edison kicked off a 20-4 SLU run which culminated with a three-pointer by
CJ Booker, giving the Lions a 26-point lead at 39-13. SLU continued to slowly extend the lead, getting it up to its first half peak right before the buzzer as a pair of free throws by Buckley gave Southeastern a 47-18 lead heading into the locker room.
SLU's advantage went over 30 points for the first time shortly after coming out of the locker room as a bucket by Elyzee opening the second half scoring. That ballooned up to 40 points with just less than 13 minutes left as another Elyzee jumper made the score 64-24 SLU.
From that point on, Southeastern's lead would fall no lower than 35, and would peak at 40 three more times, the final time at 87-47 as Elyzee got to the rim and scored on a layup. The game's final points came off the hands of Edison, whose jumper with 30 seconds left finished the night's scoring, giving the Lions a 91-53 win.
With the home opener now in the books, the Lions will pack their bags for the next month as Southeastern embarks on a 10-game road trip. The road swing starts on Sunday in Birmingham with a date against UAB. Tip-off of Sunday's game against the Blazers (0-1) is set for 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena. It 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.
