LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team once again rallied from a big, early deficit to take a late lead and eventually forced overtime, but a 13-5 run by Incarnate Word to end the extra period ended the Lions season, falling 71-67 to the Cardinals Sunday night in the first round of the 2025 Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Basketball Championships presented by Explore Louisiana at the Legacy Center.
Sam Hines, Jr. led the Lions in what proved to be his final game as a Lion, hitting 13 of 22 shots from the field to finish with 27 points. He secured eight rebounds, dished out four assists, and came up with a steal.
Also playing his last game at Southeastern,
Jakevion Buckley went six-of-16 from the field for 13 points while grabbing seven boards, giving out an assist and coming up with a steal.
Jeremy Elyzee scored on five of his 11 shot attempts to end the game with 12 points while matching Hines, Jr. for the team rebounding lead with eight boards and blocking a shot.
Brody Rowbury was three-of-six from the field, including hitting SLU's lone three-point field goal for the game in his only attempt from deep, to end the night with 11 points. He grabbed four rebounds, had two steals, and an assist.
Southeastern ended up outshooting UIW, hitting more field goals than the Cardinals, 27-25, and at a higher percentage, 40.9 percent to 39.1 percent. The big factor was three-point shooting where the Lions were just one-of-10 from long range, 10 percent, while UIW hit nine three-point field goals on 28 attempts, 32.1 percent. Both teams hit 12 free throws with Southeastern taking 16 attempts, 75 percent, while the Cardinals were awards 17 free throw attempts, 70.6 percent.
Buckley gave the Lions the game's first points with a mid-range jumper. After four-straight Cardinal points, Rowbury gave SLU the lead back with his three-pointer putting Southeastern up 5-4. And then, after a pair of UIW free throws, Hines, Jr. found Elyzee cutting to the basket for a dunk and a SLU lead at 7-6 three minutes into the contest.
That's where Southeastern went cold while UIW got how with the Cardinals scoring the next 14 points to go up 20-7 with 13:30 to go in the half. A pair of Elyzee free throws only slowed the UIW momentum for a bit as Cardinals eventually extended the run out to 22-4 as UIW took its largest lead of the contest at 18 points, 29-11, with 9:15 remaining in the period.
But the Lions started their comeback from that point as UIW found itself in a large drought, not making another shot from the field throughout the rest of the first half.
Ahmed Essahaty found Rowbury cutting down the lane for a floater that found the bottom of the net, starting a run of 10-straight Lion points. That run extended out to 12-1 with Hines, Jr. tapping back in a Buckley miss to cut the deficit down to seven at 30-23 with three minutes left to halftime.
Both teams scored just two more points in the first half with Hines, Jr. answering a pair of UIW free throws by scoring a lay-up with 1:10 left to make it 32-25 Cardinals at the break.
Southeastern's run continued into the second half as both Hines, Jr. and Elyzee scored on jumpers in the paint to cut the deficit down to just three points at 32-29, ending the 18-3 SLU run just more than a minute into the second half.
UIW scored the next four points, including a jumper with 16:45 left in the second half to end the field goal drought as the Lion defense held the Cardinals without a made field goal for nearly 13 minutes. The Cardinals got the lead back up to eight points at 43-35 with 12:45 left in the contest.
A mid-range jumper by Hines, Jr. started a 12-0 Lion run as Southeastern took its first lead of the game since 7-6. Hines, Jr. scored a lay-up while being fouled to put SLU up 45-43, and then got to the rim again to cap the run with another lay-up as the Lions took a 47-43 lead with just less than nine minutes to go in regulation. From the time Southeastern trailed by 18 points, SLU outscored UIW 36-14 to reclaim the lead.
UIW answered with an 8-0 run to reclaim the lead at 51-47. Rowbury ended that run with a lay-up while being fouled and hit the free throw for the three-point play. From there, neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of regulation. Rowbury followed that up with another pair of free throws to put Southeastern up 52-51 with 4:20 left in the second half.
That was the first of five lead changes and two ties down the stretch of regulation. Trailing 58-57 with 1:10 left, Hines, Jr. was fouled and split a pair of free throws to tie the score at 58-58. That was the final point scored in regulation as both teams missed opportunities to win the game in the closing seconds of regulation, forcing the game into overtime.
The extra period started positively for the Lions as Hines, Jr. opened the scoring in the extra five minutes and then Elyzee got to the rim for a lay-up to put SLU up 62-58 a minute into the extra five.
But UIW's three-point shooting came back into range, hitting a pair of long distance shots around a Rowbury free throw to give the Cardinals the lead back at 64-63 with two minutes left in overtime.
An Elyzee lay-up put the Lions back in front at 65-64, but UIW scored the next four to go up 68-65 with 39 seconds left. Hines, Jr. scored on a pull up jumper to get the Lions back within one at 68-67 with 27 seconds remaining. SLU got a bit of good fortune as UIW split a pair of free throws, keeping it a two-point game with the shot clock off. Buckley's baseline floater to tie the game was off the mark and UIW rebounded, hitting a pair of free throws for the game's final points with three seconds left.
Southeastern ends its 2024-25 season with an 18-14 overall record, going 12-8 in the SLC.
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.
