Iowa pulls away from Southeastern with second half run

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Southeastern Louisiana University men’s basketball team dropped the final game of their eight-game road trip to the University of Iowa, 93-62, Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Lions (4-9) had three players score in double figures led by Joe Kasperzyk with 14 points. Gus Okafor had 12 while Jalyn Hinton added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Iowa (9-3) was led by the nation’s leading scorer, Keegan Murray, with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Patrick McCaffery, Jordan Bohannon and Payton Sandfort had 16, 13 and 10 points respectively.

SLU competed hard as they withstood an early barrage of first half three-pointers from the Hawkeyes. Iowa made six of its first 11 three-pointers as they led by as much as 19 points in the first half, 41-22. However, the Lions chipped away at the Hawkeyes lead as they trailed, 44-30 at halftime.

The Lions were down, 50-37, early in the second half as Kasperzyk scored on lay-up and was fouled converting the free throw. However, the Hawkeyes went on a 19-7 run as they stretched their lead out to 25, 69-44, cruising to the win over the Lions.

Southeastern finished the game 22-for-60 for 36.7 percent while Iowa was 32-for-68 for 47.1 percent. The Lions finished 10-for-17 from the free throw line compared to Iowa’s 18-for-25.

The Lions finished up a five-week eight-game road trip against Florida Gulf Coast, Purdue Fort Wayne, Western Michigan, Troy, Southern, Louisville, Iowa and Iowa State 1-7 picking up a win at Troy, 72-68.

Next up, SLU will have eight days off before they return home to face Millsaps College Wednesday, Dec. 29th at 7 p.m., their first home game since Nov. 22nd.