HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team didn't flinch in the face of an early 15-point deficit as the team locked in defensively and
Jakevion Buckley helped get the offense in rhythm as the Lions roared back for a 79-75 win over the Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros Monday night at the University Center.
After finding it difficult to hit early, Southeastern (7-8, 1-3 SLC) found its stroke and finished the game shooting 46.3 percent from the field, including 48.2 percent in the second half. After not hitting a three-pointer in the first half, SLU hit four of its nine attempts from deep in the second period. The Lions also continued the trend from Saturday of getting to the free throw line with impunity. After hitting 22 of 33 free throws against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday, Southeastern made 25 out of its 30 attempts from the charity stripe on Monday night.
The Vaqueros (10-5, 2-2 SLC) started fast over the first 13 minutes, but then started to go cold. After shooting 41.4 percent in the first half, UTRGV only hit for 34.4 percent in the last 20 minutes to finish at 37.7 percent overall. The Vaqueros connected on 14 three-pointers at a 32.6 percent clip in the game and was 15-of-21 from the free throw line.
Buckley's 25 points was the most by a Lion in a game this season, 18 of which came in the first half to help pull Southeastern back from the early deficit into a more manageable situation. He was 10-for-10 on free throws during the first 20 minutes before finishing 13-of-17 from the stripe overall to go with a six-for-11 shooting night. He also dished out four assists, had three steals, and a pair of rebounds.
Jeremy Elyzee started to find his footing late in the first half on his way to a 16-point night. He was seven-of-10 from the field with four rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
Sam Hines, Jr. was reliable when needed, including hitting a crucial jumper from the right elbow as the shot clock sounded with less than a minute remaining in the game to give the Lions a four-point lead. He hit six of his 13 shot attempts for 14 points to go with five rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
Carlos Paez scored nine points, all in the second half while
Brody Rowbury secured eight rebounds.
"UTRGV came out hot and we couldn't buy a basket," said SLU head men's basketball coach
David Kiefer. "Credit to our guys for having poise and staying the course. We have a really tough team that needed to feel that win tonight. This group brings it every day and works to get better. We will continue to get better as the season progresses."
While the Lions were struggling to get a shot to go down, the Vaqueros hit four three-pointers during the opening minutes to help UTRGV get out to their early advantage. UTRGV even got a five-point possession by making two out of three from the free throw line, grabbing an offensive rebound, and hitting a three-pointer to turn a 10-6 score into a 15-6 Vaquero lead with 15:30 left in the first half. UTRGV got its largest lead of the game a few possessions later as a floater in the paint went in to end an 11-0 UTRGV run and give the Vaqueros a 21-6 lead with 13:30 left in the first half.
That's where Buckley started to take over for the Lions. He scored on the next two Southeastern possessions and then got a steal which turned into two Hines, Jr. free throws. A steal and transition dunk by
Kam Burton made it an 8-0 Lion run and a 7-point deficit at 21-14 with 11:45 to go in the first half.
UTRGV scored the next five to push its advantage back out to 12, but the Lions continued the claw back, scoring seven more in a row to get the deficit down to five points at 26-21 as Elyzee got to the rim for a lay-up with six minutes left before halftime.
The Vaqueros once again pushed the lead back up to 10 by scoring five-straight, but a technical foul against the Vaqueros after a made three-pointer helped SLU's cause as Buckley hit the free throws and Hines, Jr. scored on the possession, cutting that lead down four points in just one run with the ball.
UTRGV's lead hit nine points with 3:30 to go before the break, but Buckley scored while being fouled for a three-point play, starting another seven-point push by the Lions as a lay-up by Elyzee cut the deficit to two at 36-34 with 1:45 left to halftime. Both teams scored in the paint in the waning moments of the period and UTRGV took a 38-36 lead into the locker room.
On the first possession of the second half, Southeastern finished its climb out of the early hold as a lay-up by Elyzee tied the score at 38-38. UTRGV jumped right back in front with another three-pointer on its ensuing possession.
Elyzee followed Buckley into the paint on SLU's next possession and, when Buckley's shot was blocked, Elyzee was in the right place to gather the rebound and lay the ball back into the bucket. That started a seven-point push for the Lions as Southeastern took its first lead of the game on a three-pointer by
Jaiden Lawrence and Elyzee finishing the run by poking the ball free from a UTRGV ball-handler and going down the court as Hines, Jr. found him behind the defense for a monstrous slam and a 45-41 Lion lead.
The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth until, with the Vaqueros leading 50-49, a three-pointer by Burton kicked off an 8-0 Southeastern run as Paez hit a three-pointer and then stole the ball, got fouled, and hit a couple free throws to put SLU up 57-50 with 12 minutes left in the contest.
Southeastern's lead hit its peak of eight points with just less than seven minutes left as Buckley hit a pair of free throws to give the Lions a 64-56 advantage. But UTRGV immediately scored nine of the next 10 points to cut that down to one at 66-65 with five minutes to go. UTRGV reclaimed the lead with just less than four minutes left after a pair of Vaquero free throws made it 69-68 UTRGV.
But that's where one of the game's decisive moments came as Buckley sucked the defense in on his drive, only to kick the ball out to a wide open Paez in the right corner. Paez sank the three-pointer while getting hit by a defender who was rushing to contest the shot, and then sank the ensuing free throw for a four-point play, ultimately giving the Lions the lead for good at 72-69 with 3:15 left.
The game was not out of reach, however, until Hines hit his pull-up jumper at the shot clock horn with less than a minute left put SLU up 76-72 with 49 seconds left. Defense took it from there, causing a couple misses while Buckley split a pair of free throws and Lawrence hit a pair to give the Lions a 79-72 lead before the Vaqueros hit a consolation three-pointer with a second remaining on the clock for the game's final score.
The road warrior Lions now head back out of Hammond, America for four-straight contests, starting on Saturday as Southeastern makes the trip down I-55 into the Crescent City for a date with New Orleans. Tip-off of Saturday's contest against the Privateers (2-13, 0-4 SLC) is set for 5 p.m., or about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game, in the Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena.
Saturday's game will be televised 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 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.
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.
