SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team scored the game's final seven points while riding
Jakevion Buckley's career night and
Sam Hines, Jr.'s double-double to pick up a 71-66 win over Incarnate Word Saturday night at the Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center and complete the season sweep of the Cardinals.
Trailing 66-64 with less than two minutes left,
Carlos Paez found
Kam Burton, who worked his way open in the left corner, and Burton paid it off by hitting the three-point shot to give the Southeastern (15-9, 9-4 SLC) the lead for good, kicking off the game-ending 7-0 run as Incarnate Word (11-13, 4-9 SLC) missed their last five shots while the Lions made four of their six free throw attempts down the stretch to secure the win.
SLU finished the game hitting 48.1 percent from the field, doing most work inside as the Lions scored 38 points in the paint while also earning 26 trips to the foul line where Southeastern scored 18 of its points. That offset a tough night from deep as the Lions made three of their 12 shot attempts from beyond the arc.
UIW ended the night hitting 38.7 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point distance. The Cardinals made one less backet than the Lions, 25-24, but hit four more three-point field goals, hitting seven during the contest. However, UIW also had a rough night at the charity stripe, connecting on just 11 of their 21 free throw attempts.
Buckley ended the evening with a career high 27 points as he made 10 of his 15 field goal attempts and seven of his 10 free throw attempts on the evening. He also grabbed six rebounds, had four assists, came up with three steals, and had a key blocked shot on the defensive possession after Burton's late three.
Hines, Jr. got his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He was seven-of-14 from the field and four-of-six at the charity stripe, which included knocking down key free throw with less than a minute left to help secure the win.
Burton duplicated his scoring performance from the game against UIW two weeks ago, scoring 12 points in this contest after putting in a dozen against the Cardinals in the game in Hammond two weeks ago. He was four-of-nine from the field, three-of-eight from three-point range, and was one-of-two at the stripe. He also secured six rebounds for the Lions in the win.
Southeastern seemed poised to open up a gap on UIW late in the first half. Leading 18-16, Burton's second made three-pointer of the contest started a five-point push for the Lions. After several empty possessions by both teams, Hines, Jr. got to the rim and scored to give SLU a seven-point lead, 23-16, with five minutes left in the half. That would be the largest lead of the period for either side.
SLU pushed the lead back to seven twice more in the closing moments, once after
Jaiden Lawrence hit a pair of free throws to make it 26-19. Lawrence than answered a UIW bucket with one of his own on SLU's next possession to give the Lions a 28-21 lead with two minutes left before the break. UIW scored the period's final five points to cut Southeastern's lead down to just two as a put-back by the Cardinals at the buzzer made it 28-26 Lions as the teams headed to their locker room.
UIW continued the run out of the break, scoring the first four points of the second half to extend it to a 9-0 Cardinal push as UIW reclaimed the lead at 30-28 just two minutes into the period.
Neither team led by more than a single possession until, with the game tied at 41-41, a Burton jumper from the mid-range started a 5-0 Southeastern run. That jumper was followed by Hines, Jr. splitting a pair of free throws and then, on SLU's next possession, tipped in his own miss, putting the Lions up 46-41 with 11:15 left. The lead grew to six as, after a UIW made shot, Buckley split a pair of free throws, but got his own rebound and scored shortly after to make it 49-43 SLU.
The Lions pushed the lead to a peak of eight points with 4:40 remaining as Buckley got into the paint and floated a shot in, extending SLU's lead out to 62-54. But that solid position did not last long as, after trading two-point possessions to make it 64-56 Lions, UIW found one big push, scoring a quick 10-0 run to reclaim the lead at 66-64 with 1:40 left. But a one-of-two trip to the free throw line to end that run would be UIW's final point of the game as SLU started its game-ending 7-0 run on the ensuing possession.
Southeastern, which has won nine of its last 10 contests, looks to avenge its lone loss during the stretch Monday night as the Lions head to Houston to take on Houston Christian. Tip-off of Monday's contest against the Huskies (11-13, 8-5 SLC) is set for 7 p.m. in Sharp Gymnasium.
Monday's game will be televised on ESPN+ with a radio broadcast also 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 through the host institution.
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.
