CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team got three players in double figures, but shooting just below 34 percent in the contest while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi shot over 50 percent was too much to overcome as the Lions fell to the Islanders 68-54 Saturday evening at the American Bank Center.
The loss ended Southeastern's hopes for a top-two seed and a double bye in the 2025 Southland Conference Basketball Championships as the winner of Monday's game between Lamar (18-12, 13-6 SLC) and Nicholls (19-11, 13-6 SLC) will join McNeese (24-6, 18-1 SLC) straight into the semifinal round.
SLU (18-12, 12-7 SLC) can still clinch a top-four seed and a bye into the quarterfinal round with a win Monday night against Texas-Rio Grande Valley (15-15, 7-12 SLC). The Vaqueros were officially eliminated from postseason consideration, as was Stephen F. Austin (14-16, 7-12 SLC), as Incarnate Word (16-14, 9-10 SLC) clinched the final spot in the tournament with a win over East Texas A&M (4-26, 2-17 SLC) on Saturday.
By beating the Lions, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-13, 11-8 SLC) kept its hopes alive for a first round bye, as did Northwestern State (14-15, 11-8 SLC) who defeated Houston Christian (12-19, 9-10) 61-56 on Saturday.
Sam Hines, Jr. led the Lions on the day by scoring 12 points with six rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
Jeremy Elyzee and
Kam Burton both scored 10 points on the day with Elyzee grabbing seven rebounds and a steal while Burton secured four boards and two steals.
The Lions ended the game shooting 33.9 percent from the field, hitting 20 of 59 shot attempts overall. It was also a tough day from deep, as Southeastern hit three of their 16 three-point field goal attempts, and from the charity stripe, where the Lions scored on 11 of their 17 free throws.
TAMUCC hit on 27 of its 53 shot attempts, 50.9 percent overall, and six of its 19 attempts from deep, 31.6 percent from deep. The Islanders weren't much better at the free throw line, hitting eight of their 13 attempts, 61.5 percent, from the stripe.
Southeastern's lone lead of the contest came with 16:30 left as
Brody Rowbury hit on a free throw to give the Lions a 5-4 advantage. While A&M-Corpus Christi reclaimed the lead on its ensuing possession, SLU tied the score twice more, once at 7-7 on a lay-up by Elyzee, and again at 9-9 on a jumper by
Jakevion Buckley with 12:30 left in the first half.
The Islanders scored the next six points to go up 15-9 and would not relinquish the lead again. A&M-Corpus Christi's largest lead of the half came with just less than four minutes left at 29-15 on a dunk, and again at 31-17 with less than 3:15 in the period.
SLU started gaining some momentum towards the end of the half as a three by Burton started a 10-2 Lion push to close the half. Elyzee hit a jumper with just seconds remaining to send the teams to the locker room with the Islanders lead cut down to six points, 33-27.
Southeastern's run continued into the second half as Rowbury opened the period's scoring, making it nine-straight Lion points to cut the deficit down to four, 33-29.
However, A&M-Corpus Christi went on another run to open the advantage again, scoring 10 of the next 11points to go up 43-30 with 17:20 remaining.
SLU got as close as seven points the rest of the way, hitting that mark twice. The last time the Lions were within seven was with 8:30 left as
Kyle Edison hit a shot from outside to make the score 52-45.
The Islanders pulled away from there, going on a 16-4 run to take their largest lead of the contest at 68-49 with 4:15 left. Southeastern scored the game's final five points for the final result.
Southeastern wraps up its regular season Monday night at UTRGV. Tip-off of Monday's contest against the Vaqueros is set for 6:30 p.m. in the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats also available through the host institution. A radio broadcast will not be available.
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.
