HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team connected on more than half of its shot attempts for the third-straight game, propelling the Lions to a third-straight victory in a 76-64 win over the Incarnate Word Cardinals Monday night at the Pride Roofing University Center.
Southeastern (10-13, 5-5 SLC) got off to the start it wanted as
Alec Woodard got behind the defense for an easy layup to open the scoring, the first two of seven-straight SLU points to open the contest as a triple by
Roscoe Eastmond put the Lions up 7-0 just more than four minutes into the contest. A baseline jumper by Incarnate Word (7-15, 2-7 SLC) out of timeout only slowed the SLU run as the Lions added on the next seven with a three by Woodard putting Southeastern up 14-2 with just less than 14 minutes remaining in the opening period.
However, the Cardinals had a run in them, outscoring the Lions 20-7 over the next seven minutes to take their first, and only, lead of the contest at 22-21with just more than seven minutes left in the period. That UIW lead would be fleeting, however, as
Roger McFarlane dropped in a trey on Southeastern's ensuing possession to reclaim the lead for good, starting a half-ending 15-2 SLU run as
Roger McFarlane beat the buzzer with a three to re-establish the 12-point lead at 36-24 as the two teams went to the halftime break.
That run reached 16-2 out of the half as
Brody Rowbury split a pair of free throws to open the scoring in the second half, making it 37-24 Lions. UIW would cut that lead down to eight points several times over the next few minutes, the final time at 51-43 as the Cardinals hit on a mid-range jumper with 9:30 to go in the contest.
A floater in the paint by
Nick Caldwell started a 15-7 SLU run, a run which Caldwell also ended as he read an Eastmond steal and leaked out with Eastmond finding him for a transition dunk, giving the Lions their largest lead of the contest at 16 points, 66-50, with 4:30 left in the contest. The two teams traded a couple of made free throws, putting SLU up 68-52, but then UIW rattled off a quick six points to cut the Southeastern lead down to 10 points at 68-58 with just less than two minutes left, but that would be as close as UIW would get as a Woodard three ended the Cardinal momentum and the Lions closed out the win.
McFarlane and Caldwell each scored 18 points to lead all scorers in the contest. McFarlane was six-of-14 from the field and four-of-eight from three while hitting both of his free throw attempts. He also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds with an assist and a steal. Caldwell's 18 points came off of eight-of-10 shooting while hitting both three-pointers he attempted. He grabbed five rebounds and had a pair of assists. Woodard added 16 points as he made all but one of his six shots in the contest, hitting three of his four attempts from deep. He was also three-of-four at the free throw line while grabbing two rebounds, dishing out a pair of assists, coming up with a couple steals, and blocked a shot. Rowbury owned the lane to get to the free throw line 12 times, making nine of his attempts at the stripe. He added that to three-of-seven shooting to finish the night with 15 points while matching McFarlane's rebounding total of seven and adding an assist. Eastmond tied his career high by dishing out 13 assists to go with three points, three steals, and two rebounds.
For the third-straight contest, Southeastern hit more than half of its shot attempts, connecting on 24 of 46 attempts from the field to finish at 52.2% overall. That was pushed largely by connecting on 73.3% of the shots taken, 11-of-15, in the last 20 minutes. The Lions hit more than 40% from three as well on the night, making it the third-straight contest getting above that mark, connecting on 11-of-20 shots from deep for 55% on three-point attempts. It's also the fourth time hitting 10 or more threes in a single game this year with the other three instances of that coming against Southern-New Orleans and in both contests against McNeese. UIW was held to just 37.9% shooting in the contest and 35.7% from three in the contest while the 64 points scored is the fewest the Cardinals have been able to muster against Southland Conference competition so far this season.
The Lions look to keep the winning ways going as they head out on the road for a pair of games next weekend, starting on Saturday afternoon in Natchitoches for a date against Northwestern State. Tip-off of Saturday's contest against the Demons (6-17, 4-6 SLC) is set for 3 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. The game will be live streamed on ESPN+ while a radio broadcast 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.
