HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team rode an all-around performance to its sixth-straight victory, controlling the Incarnate Word Cardinals to an 86-63 win Saturday evening at the University Center.
Southeastern (12-8, 6-3 SLC) held UIW (9-11, 2-7 SLC) 14 points below its season average while scoring 16 more points than what the Cardinals have allowed per game this season.
The Lions ended the game hitting 50.8 percent from the field while having one of their best three-point shooting days of the season in terms of percentage, hitting on 44.4 percent while connecting on eight shots from deep.
SLU also protected the ball well, committing just eight turnovers in the contest to stay in the single digits in a game for the third time this season. UIW turned the ball over 19 times, resulting in a 23-12 advantage in points off turnovers for the Lions. Southeastern once again controlled the paint, outscoring the Cardinals by 12 in the lane, 40-28.
UIW ended the contest shooting 45.8 percent from the field, taking 13 less shots overall than Southeastern, making nine fewer baskets. The Cardinals hit 44.4 percent from distance, connecting on five of their 15 shot attempts from beyond the arc.
Sam Hines, Jr. led the Lions with 22 points in the win, continuing his run of scoring double-digits in every game so far this season. He went eight-of-13 from the field and hit both of his three-point attempts while giving out four assists, grabbing three rebounds, blocking a shot, and coming up with a steal. He ended the day just five points away from his 1,000
th career point as a Division I basketball student-athlete.
Jeremy Elyzee had an efficient day as well, scoring on six of his eight shot attempts, including a couple three-pointers, to finish with 15 points, his best scoring output since the last SLU home game where he scored 16 points against UTRGV. He added four rebounds, three steals, and a block to his stat line as well.
Kam Burton found his stroke again, hitting a couple more three-pointers on his way to 12 points while getting two rebounds and a steal.
Jakevion Buckley hit double figures in points for the seventh game in a row, ending the night with 10 points. He also had five assists, three rebounds, and a couple steals in the contest.
The start was a bit slower than what Southeastern was looking for as UIW quickly got its largest lead of the game by scoring seven of the game's first nine points to take a 7-2 lead with 16:20 left in the first half.
A lay-up by
Thomas Tut after Hines, Jr. pulled the defense to him seemed to give SLU's offense some life as the Lions with Buckley tying the score at 7-7 as he completed an and-one opportunity with 15:28 left in the half. After the Cardinals scored to retake the lead, Burton hit his first three-pointer of the game to give SLU its first lead at 10-9 with just less than 14 minutes left before halftime.
The Cardinals answered with a three-pointer to reclaim the lead, only to have
Carlos Paez answer with one of his own on Southeastern's ensuing possession as SLU went on a 7-0 run to go up 17-12 with 9:14 left in the half on a pair of Hines, Jr. free throws.
UIW answered with an 11-4 run to reclaim the lead at 23-21 before Burton's second three-ball of the contest put the Lions in front to stay. It kicked off an 11-0 SLU run as Hines, Jr.'s jumper in the paint gave Southeastern a 32-23 lead with 3:30 remaining before halftime.
A 7-2 UIW run cut that Lion lead down to just four at 34-30, but the final two minutes belonged to Southeastern as SLU ended the half by scoring nine of the final 11 points, including a heave by Paez from just behind the half-court stripe at the buzzer which gave the Lions a 43-32 lead at the break.
After scoring the last five points in the first half, SLU's run continued into the second as the Lions scored the first seven points of the period to go up 50-32 just more than two minutes into the period when Elyzee put back in a missed shot.
UIW scored the next six to get the Lion lead down to 12, but the Lions responded with another big run, scoring 21 of the next 28 points to push the lead beyond 20 points for the first time and give Southeastern its largest lead of the contest at 26 points. Buckley found
Jaiden Lawrence for an alley oop slam to put an emphatic exclamation point on the run as SLU went up 71-45 with 7:37 left in the contest.
The Cardinals would cut that lead down to as little as 18 points the rest of the way, going on a 10-2 run following the Lawrence dunk to make it 73-55. But Southeastern made sure there would be no big rally for UIW as the Lions went on an 11-4 run to push the advantage back up to 25 points with
Kyle Edison scoring on a lay-up as the clock ticked under one minute remaining and SLU cruised to the win.
The Lions continue its four-game homestand on Monday night on Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night as Houston Christian comes to Hammond, America. Tip-off of Monday's game against the Huskies (9-11, 6-3 SLC) is set for 6 p.m., or about 30 minutes following the women's game, in the University Center.
All SLU faculty and staff will get free admission with a SLU ID, and will be recognized during the contest.
Monday's game will be televised on ESPN+ with a radio broadcast will 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 or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats 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.
