HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team saw
Nick Caldwell get the team's first 30-point performance since the 2021-22 season, but it wasn't enough to overcome issues in the paint in a 77-72 overtime loss to the Lamar Cardinals Monday night at the Pride Roofing University Center.
Southeastern (13-14, 8-6 SLC) had the energy early as
Roscoe Eastmond pulled up in the paint and sank a jumper, and then the Lions defense forced a turnover which SLU turned into two more points as Eastmond found Caldwell underneath for a dunk and a 4-0 lead a minute into the contest. But Lamar (15-11, 9-4 SLC) weathered the early SLU rush and answered back with a 10-1 run to jump out to a 10-5 lead three minutes in. Southeastern scored the next five on a pair of free throws by
Roger McFarlane and a three by Caldwell to even the score back up, the but Cardinals continued to pull back ahead. After a three by Eastmond tied the game at 14-14, Lamar went on an 8-2 push to take its largest lead of the game with a layup giving the Cardinals a 22-16 lead with 7:30 left before halftime.
The Lions had a quick answer as back-to-back threes by Caldwell and Eastmond started a 14-1 SLU run as another Caldwell three put Southeastern up 30-23 with 3:15 left before halftime, marking SLU's largest lead of the contest at seven points. SLU answered several Lamar buckets over the next few minutes, but, with the Lions up 34-27 with 1:10 left, the Cardinals finished the half by scoring the final five points to cut the SLU lead down to two points at 34-32 at the break.
SLU went inside to kick off the second half, getting the ball to
Brody Rowbury for a layup to open the second half scoring, but Lamar took the momentum from there, going on a 9-3 run to reclaim the lead as a layup put the Cardinals up 43-39 with 13:45 left. A pair of McFarlane free throws and a Caldwell jumper in the paint pulled the Lions back even. Over the next few minutes, Lamar would get a bucket, only to see Southeastern respond to tie the game back up. However, with Lamar leading 48-47, a three by Eastmond started a run which seemed to give SLU the edge heading down the stretch. Caldwell flew in and slammed back in a missed three-point attempt to cap an 8-0 Lions run to match SLU's largest lead of the contest at seven points, 55-48, with 6:30 left in regulation.
Following a timeout, the Cardinals would settle back in as a three-pointer on Lamar's ensuing possession started a 12-4 run which flipped the lead back to Lamar's side as a free throw made it 60-59 Cardinals with 1:45 left. Southeastern scored the next three points as Caldwell hit a free throw and then got out in transition off of a Lamar miss for a layup to put the Lions up 62-60 with less than a minute remaining. Lamar scored in the paint on its next possession to tie the score, and both teams missed shots on their final possession of regulation to force overtime, tied at 62-62.
Less than 90 seconds into the extra period, Lamar had matched its largest lead of the game as the Cardinals scored the first six points of the added five minutes. A Caldwell three cut that deficit in half and the Lions slowly shipped away at the deficit until Caldwell hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 72-72 with 1:23 left in overtime. However, Lamar retook the lead with a layup, and a Southeastern miss put the Lions on their heels, needing a stop. SLU seemed to get the stop needed as a Cardinal three-point attempt bounced away, but it fell right to the hands of a Lamar player for the offensive rebound and, with the two clocks nearly identical, the Lions were forced to foul. Lamar went three-of-four at the free throw line down the stretch while a pair of SLU three-pointers went off target, stunting the comeback attempt.
Caldwell, who was named the Southland Conference's Player of the Week for the second week in a row prior to the game, scored a career-high 30 points for the first 30-point game by a Lion since a 32-point performance by Gus Okafor against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in February 2022. He hit 10 of his 20 shot attempts, including four three-pointers, while also grabbing 12 rebounds for this third-straight double-double. Caldwell also had two assists, two steals, and two blocks in the contest. Eastmond took on a bigger scoring role on Monday, hitting seven of his 14 shot attempts, including three-of-six from three, to finish with a season high 17 points. He didn't let the scoring take away from his distributor role, dishing out seven assists in the contest while also collecting three rebounds and a steal.
Southeastern hit 48% of its shots in the first half, but saw that come down over the final 25 minutes, finishing the game at 41.7% overall. After hitting half of its 12 three-point attempts in the first half, SLU hit 27.8% from three in the second half and overtime to finish at 36.7% from deep on the night. Lamar hit in the 40% range in both halves, but came alive in the overtime period, hitting 57.1% of its shots in the extra five minutes to secure the win, finishing the game at 42.2% shooting overall. After hitting 11 threes in the game against SLU in Beaumont, the Cardinals hit just six threes on Monday, hitting at a 24% clip from deep. However, it was the paint where the Cardinals made the difference, outscoring SLU 36-14 from shots taken in the lane.
With the six-game win streak now in the past, the Lions look to rebound on Saturday, looking to complete another season sweep when New Orleans comes to Hammond, America for the return trip. Tip-off of Saturday's contest against the Privateers (8-19, 3-11 SLC) is set for 3:30 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center, a game which will be sponsored by the North Oaks Health System. Saturday's game against UNO will be live streamed 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, worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive and LionUpRadio.org, or on smart devices on the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will also be available at LionSports.net.
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.
