HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team flipped the script on (RV)/(RV) McNeese State, jumping out to a 16-point first half lead and held off a furious rally to hand the Cowboys their first Southland Conference loss while also ending the nation's longest win streak with a 77-74 win Saturday afternoon in the Pride Roofing University Center.
Southeastern (9-13, 4-5 SLC) showed it had the range early as
Alec Woodard popped open and drained a three-pointer to give the Lions an early 3-2 edge. McNeese (19-3, 8-1 SLC) scored the next six points to claim their largest lead of the contest at 8-3 with 17:10 to go in the period. The two teams exchanged three-pointers to give the Cowboys the five-point advantage again, but that's where SLU started to take control of the contest as a three by
Roger McFarlane started a 28-6 Lions run. That run was ended by
Kam Burton draining a three-pointer of his own, giving Southeastern its largest lead of the contest at 33-17 with five minutes to go before halftime.
SLU led by 16 twice more in the first half, the last after McFarlane got into the paint and hit a jumper to make it 37-21 Lions with 3:10 to go before the break. The Cowboys scored the next five to get it down to 11 points before
Nick Caldwell scored while being fouled, hitting the and-one free throw to reestablish a 14-point edge before McNeese scored the final points of the half on a dunk to make it 40-28 Southeastern at the break.
Even after the Cowboys connected on a three to open the scoring in the second half, getting the SLU lead back below double digits, the Lions continued to keep McNeese at a distance on the scoreboard. With SLU leading 45-36, a three-pointer by
Roscoe Eastmond kicked off an 8-2 Southeastern push as Eastmond ended the run by hittig a pair of free throws to give the Lions their largest lead of the second half at 15 points, 53-38.
After trading three-pointers, with a Caldwell three giving SLU a 56-41 lead with 12:55 to go, McNeese took advantage of a technical foul to turn its next possession into four points, kicking off a 10-0 Cowboys run to cut the SLU lead down to five at 56-51 with 10:40 to go. SLU scored five of the next six points as Burton's second three-pointer of the game put the Lions back up nine at 61-52 with 9:30 to go. With Southeastern holding a 64-56 lead after Eastmond completed an old-fashioned three-point play, McNeese scored the next five points to make it a one-possession game at 64-61 with less than 6:30 left.
But the Lions had another answer for the McNeese run as McFarlane found
Brody Rowbury alone in the dunker's spot for an easy layup, starting another 8-2 Southeastern run as
Alec Woodard hit a pair of free throws to put the Lions up 72-63 with less than a minute left. The game seemed out of reach after a personal foul and a technical foul helped SLU answer a Cowboys three with three made free throws in four attempts by McFarlane, giving the Lions a 75-66 lead with less than 30 seconds to go. But the McNeese pressure defense, combined with SLU's top ball-handler on the bench after fouling out, resulted in several late turnovers that helped the Cowboys score a quick eight points to make it a one-point game at 75-74. After successfully getting the ball in play, Woodard was fouled and sent to the line. He calmly hit the two pressure free throws, giving SLU a 77-74 lead. McNeese got two looks from the right corner to tie the game, but the first hit the front iron and the second bounded off of the back iron and fell away to secure the Lions win.
"Credit to McNeese for battling until the end and not making it easy," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer. "I thought our guys just competed the whole game. It wasn't perfect, and ugly at times, but we competed and battled. We have a big game on Monday with Incarnate Word coming in so we have to have a short memory."
Caldwell was the game's top scorer for Southeastern, hitting six of his 11 shot attempts, including three-of-seven from three-point range, to finish with 16 points while also grabbing eight rebounds with four assists, three blocks, and a steal. Eastmond and McFarlane both finished with 15 points as Eastmond hit five of 12 from the field which included two-of-five from three and connected on all three of his free throw attempts. He added five assists and a steal. McFarlane was four-of-11 from the field, including two-of-five from deep, and made five of his six free throw attempts. He secured six rebounds and dished out three assists. Woodard did most of his damage in the first half, hitting three-of-six from the field, all of which came from beyond the three-point arc, and hit four very crucial free throws late to her preserve the win. He also grabbed eight rebounds, doled out a pair of assists, and came out with a steal.
Southeastern finished the game hitting better than 50% from the field for the second game in a row, connecting on 25 of 47 attempts from the field to finish at 53.2% as a team. SLU also connected on 12 three-pointers in the contest, tying the team-best this season in games against Division I schools. The other time the Lions hit 12 threes in a contest against a Division I opponent this season was in the first meeting against McNeese. SLU took 25 three-point attempts to get the 12 makes, finishing the contest hitting at a 48% clip from deep. McNeese ended the game hitting 44.1% of their shots, but were cold from above the arc as the Cowboys hit seven threes in the contest on 24 attempts for a 29.2% clip.
Now winners of two-straight, the Lions look to make it three in a row on Monday night as Incarnate Word comes to Hammond, America to wrap up the quick homestand. Tip-off of Monday's contest against the Cardinals (7-14, 2-6 SLC) is set for 6 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center. It will also be Greek Night, looking to have Greek Life rocking the Pride Roofing University Center with a special halftime step show by the male NPHC organizations on campus. Monday's game will be live streamed on ESPN+ while a radio broadcast for both contests will be available, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area or worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, and on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the Tunein Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats for both contests will also be available on 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.
