HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team finished non-conference play with
Jaiden Lawrence and
Carlos Paez scoring career highs on its way to a 96-62 win over the Loyola Wolf Pack Friday night at the University Center.
Southeastern (6-6) finished the game hitting on 47.9 percent of its shots in the contest, including 10 three-pointers on 40 percent shooting from distance. The Lions also took good care of the basketball, committing just nine turnovers, the second time this season with less than 10 in a game.
Loyola (4-8), who was playing this contest as an exhibition, ended the game connecting on 38.5 percent of its shot attempts. The Wolf Pack hit three of its first four attempts from deep, but eventually ended up hitting just 26.7 percent of its three-point attempts. Loyola also committed 20 turnovers in the contest, leading to 23 SLU points off of those miscues.
In just his third game as a Lion, Lawrence joined
Sam Hines, Jr. with the game's top point total as both scored 19 points in the contest. Lawrence hit seven of his 15 shot attempts, including three-of-nine from three-point range. He also had two rebounds and an assist. Hines, Jr. hit five of his 10 shots, including his only three-pointer, and went eight-of-nine at the free throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds in the contest.
Paez was nearly perfect in the contest, hitting six of his seven shot attempts, including all three of his attempts from long distance, to end the night with a career-high 17 points. He secured four rebounds, dished out two assists, and had a steal.
Jakevion Buckley led the team in rebounds, with seven, and assists, with four.
Kyle Edison had nine points and led the team with four steals.
Thomas Tut led the team by blocking two shots while getting five rebounds and four points.
Loyola started fast out of the game, hitting three of its first four three-point attempts which enabled the Wolf Pack to jump out to an 11-6 lead 3:30 into the contest.
Two Southeastern possessions later, Lawrence got into the paint and scored, kicking off a 38-14 Lion run as SLU took complete control of the contest. With 12:25 left in the game, a Loyola three-point play gave the Wolf Pack the lead at 14-13. On Southeastern's next possession, Paez found Lawrence open and Lawrence hit a three-pointer for the sixth, and final, lead change of the night, giving the Lions a 16-14 lead with 12:15 left before halftime.
SLU's lead hit double-digits for the first time with 5:30 left before halftime at 31-20 as Paez got the ball to
Brody Rowbury, who flipped the ball up into the basket. The run ended with Lawrence connecting on another triple with 2:30 left before the break, making the score 44-25 SLU.
Southeastern's largest lead of the first half came 45 seconds left in the half as Hines, Jr. hit a pair of free throws, giving the Lions a 51-29 lead. SLU took a 53-32 advantage into the halftime locker room.
Jeremy Elyzee tapped back in his own miss and then another pair of Hines, Jr. free throws opened the second half scoring as the Lions raced out to a 57-32 lead out of the break.
Loyola came back with an 11-2 run to cut that lead down to 16 points at 59-43 with 15 minutes left in the contest. Hines, Jr. scored while getting fouled on Southeastern's next possession and converted the free throw for the three-point play, starting a 19-5 SLU run to run the lead out to 30 points for the first time at 78-48 with 9:30 to go and the Lions would coast from there. SLU's largest lead of the contest came with just less than two minutes left as a three-pointer by Edison made it 95-60.
The win completes the non-conference portion of Southeastern's schedule with the Lions compiling a 6-5 record against non-Southland Conference competition. It's the first time the Lions had a winning record against out-of-conference competition since the 2016-17 team went 7-6 through the non-conference portion of its schedule.
Southeastern will now enjoy its Christmas break before returning to action for one last game in 2024 as the Lions head to Lake Charles for a date with McNeese. Tip-off of the game against the Cowboys (5-5, 0-0 SLC) is set for 6 p.m. on Dec. 30 in the Legacy Center.
The game against McNeese 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.
