HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team never trailed on the way to a dominant 83-65 Senior Day victory over Southland Conference foe East Texas A&M Saturday afternoon in the University Center.
Southeastern (18-10, 12-5 SLC), which honored the senior class of Sam Hines Jr.,
Jakevion Buckley,
Carlos Paez,
Max Brackmann,
Ryan Elzy and manager Jamar Gant prior to the game, shot 51.8 percent (29-for-56) from the field and saw five players score in double figures Saturday. The visiting Lions fell to 3-25 overall and 1-16 in Southland Conference play.
SLU remains in third place with three conference games remaining and sits one game behind Lamar for second place. The top two seeds in the Southland Conference Tournament, scheduled for March 9-12 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, will receive a bye into the semifinals with the No. 3 and 4 seeds earning an automatic spot in the quarterfinals.
"We played a complete 40-minute game, really responded well in the second half and did a great job of limiting our turnovers," Southeastern head coach
David Kiefer said. "It's always nice to send our seniors out with a win on Senior Day."
Buckley, who has been named the SLC Player of the Week each of the past two weeks, continued his hot streak in Saturday's win. The Shelbyville, Texas native led SLU with 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Buckley has scored 20 or more points in five straight games.
"Jakevion continues to get better every single day," Kiefer commented. "He's going to be in contention for conference player of the year and he does so many things for us on both ends of the floor. We're lucky to have him."
Buckley posted one of two 20-point scoring performances for the Lions, as
Jeremy Elyzee tallied 20 points. The true freshman from Hialeah, Florida scored 15 of his points in the first half to help stake Southeastern to a 43-32 lead at the break.
"Jeremy doesn't play like a freshman," Kiefer stated. "He's just so poised, has a high basketball IQ and he's just so coachable. The sky's the limit for him because of those things."
Brody Rowbury (15 points), Hines Jr. (14 points) and
Carlos Paez (10 points) joined Buckley and Elyzee in double figures. After building the lead to double figures in the opening half, SLU stretched the lead to as many as 27 before East Texas A&M whittled the final margin down in the waning minutes.
TJ Thomas led four ETAMU players in double figures with 17 points, while Josh Taylor chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the visiting Lions. Scooter Williams Jr. and Yusef Salih added 11 points each for East Texas A&M.
Southeastern will close out its 2024-25 regular season home schedule Monday, hosting Northwestern State at 6 p.m. in the University Center. The game will be televised on ESPN+ can be heard on 90.9 The Lion. Streaming audio of 90.9 The Lion broadcasts is available online, at
www.LionSports.net/ListenLive or
www.LionUpRadio.org, or through the following apps - Lions' Gameday and MyTuner Radio.
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 X and Instagram or like /SLUathletics on Facebook.
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.
