Defense stands tall as Lions knock off Huskies

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men’s basketball team relied on its defense, holding Houston Christian to more than 20 points below its season average as the Lions got out to an early advantage and never trailed in a 71-59 win Thursday night over the Huskies at the University Center.

The Lions set the tone early, forcing HCU into four turnovers in its opening five possessions as Southeastern jumped out to an 8-0 lead on a lay-up by Brody Rowbury with 17:45 left in the first half. HCU responded with six of the next eight to cut that lead down to four points at 10-6 with 13:40 left in the first half.

SLU had an answer of its own as the Huskies left Nick Caldwell open from straight away and he burned them with a three-pointer to kick off another 8-0 Southeastern run with a jump shot by Roger McFarlane falling for an 18-6 SLU lead with 11:20 left in the first half, representing Southeastern’s largest lead of the first half.

HBU cut that down to as little as five points at 25-20 with 5:10 left before halftime before a pair of McFarlane free throws started a six-point spurt by SLU as a Boogie Anderson basket made it 31-20 Lions with 4:30 left to halftime. The Huskies finished the half on a 7-2 run to cut the Southeastern lead down to 33-27 at the break.

SLU started the second half almost as well as the first, scoring the first five points to get the lead back up to 11 points as Rowbury split a pair of free throws to make it 38-27. HBU had another answer, going on a 10-3 run to cut the Southeastern lead down to 41-37 with 13:00 left in the game. SLU scored the next six to get it back up to 10 as Anderson found McFarlane behind the defense for a transition lay-up to make it 47-37 before HCU started to heat up, scoring eight straight to cut the lead down to two points at 47-45 with 9:30 left in the game.

That’s where the game’s decisive run kicked off as Caldwell hit a lay-up to start the 16-2 Lions run that Alec Woodard capped with a three-pointer with 4:50 left in the contest to give SLU its largest lead of the game at 61-47. Southeastern’s lead would not fall below double-digits again as SLU answered each Husky score with one of its own down the stretch to preserve the win.

“I thought our guys were locked in defensively,” said SLU head men’s basketball coach David Kiefer. “We did a great job of protecting the paint and limiting them to one shot. Our hands were very active tonight and we were connected. It was good to get a win despite not shooting the ball well. Good teams find a way to win even when the ball isn’t going in the basket and we did that tonight.”

Anderson was on the attack early and often, scoring on nine of his 16 field goal attempts to finish with 22 points, just one point off his season high, to go with three assists and four rebounds. McFarlane finished one rebound shy of his second double-double of the season, ending the game with 12 points, nine boards, and three assists. Woodard found the range from deep, hitting four of his six shot attempts, all from above the arc, as he also finished with 12 points to go with six rebounds. Rowbury missed his second double-double of the season by three points as he completed the game with seven points and a season high 12 rebounds.

After hitting on 52% of its shots in the first half, Southeastern cooled down in the second half to finish at 42.1% shooting in the game, including 37.5% from above the three-point arc. But defense is where this game was won, holding the Huskies, who came in averaging 80.7 points per game, nearly 22 points below its season average by forcing HCU into 22 turnovers which turned into 27 points off turnovers for the Lions. HCU shot 39.1% from the field, well below its season average, including just 27.3% from above the three-point arc. The Huskies did force 17 SLU turnovers, but turned into just 16 points off turnovers.

The Lions (7-8, 1-1 SLC) look to go above .500 in Southland Conference play on Saturday as Southeastern welcomes in Lamar for a conference contest. Tip-off against the Cardinals (4-11, 0-2 SLC) is set for 3:30 P.M in the University Center and will be live streamed on ESPN+. Kids in attendance at Saturday’s game will be able to get their face painted on the concourse between 2-4 P.M. courtesy of Gale’s Fancy Faces.

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
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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.