Julien’s heroics push Lions to heart-stopping win at Northwestern State, 84-81

NATCHITOCHES, La. – Von Julien scored 11 of the final 16 points including a game tying three-pointer with 12 seconds left to lift the Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team to a thrilling, 84-81 win in overtime, Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.

The Lions (6-14, 3-6 Southland) were led by sophomore Ty Brewer with 20 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and was 10-for-12 from the free throw line. Julien finished with 16 points while LaQuan Butler added 13 points including three three-pointers.

The Demons (7-10, 4-4 Southland) got 18 points from Jairus Roberson while Jovan Zelenbaba added 14 points. Sophomore Brian White paced the Demons with 11 points.

Southeastern opened up a 13-point first half lead, 29-16, with 5:19 left until halftime. The Demons rallied going on a 16-3 run to tie the game at 32-32 at the break.

SLU and NSU spent much of the second half trading blows as neither was giving ground. Brewer drilled a three-pointer with 6:06 to go to give the Lions a 58-57 lead. But the Demons responded with a 10-2 to taking their largest lead of the game, 67-60, with 4:06 left. Southeastern fought their way back going on an 11-4 run to end regulation.

After SLU’s Brandon Gonzalez missed a game-tying three-pointer with 18 seconds left, Julien hustled to steal the rebound away from Northwestern State’s Jamaure Gregg. Julien, a senior from Reserve, Louisiana, step to the far corner and drilled a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to tie the game at 71-71.

“I was just thinking we wanted to get Brandon the shot first because he is a great shooter,” said Julien. “And when the shot hit the rim and their guy got the rebound, I was just thinking we had to get the ball somehow. So when I saw (NSU’s Jamaure Gregg) with his back turned, I was able to take it away and fortunately was able to get a good look and make the shot.”

In overtime, the Lions opened up on a 10-1 run to take an 80-72 lead. Despite the Demons comeback attempt, Julien hit three out of four three-pointers in the final 20 seconds to hold of NSU.

“I thought our guys just stuck with it the whole 40 minutes,” said SLU men’s head basketball coach David Kiefer. “During the timeouts, our guys stayed positive no matter what was happening and they just kept playing hard. Von showed the kind of leader he is by making so many big shots but top to bottom I thought we got a lot of good work from our guys today.”

Next up, the Lions will travel to Conway, Arkansas to face the University of Center Arkansas (5-15, 4-5 Southland) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. UCA is coming off an overtime loss Saturday night at home to Abilene Christian, 70-69.

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Newspaper Box Score
Southeastern La vs Northwestern St.
01/25/20 3:00 pm at Natchitoches, LA
At Natchitoches, LA
SOUTHEASTERN LA 84, NORTHWESTERN ST. 81
SOUTHEASTERN LA (6-14,3-6 Southla)
Brewer, Ty 4-13 10-12 20; Julien, Von 5-11 4-6 16; LaQuan Butler 4-7 2-2
13; Maxwell Starwood 4-11 1-1 9; Byron Smith 3-7 1-2 7; Isiah Kirby 3-6 0-0
7; Caldwell, Nick 3-5 0-1 7; Gonzalez, Brandon 2-5 0-3 5; Maxim Romanov 0-3
0-0 0; Jeremiah Saunders 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 18-27 84.
NORTHWESTERN ST. (7-11,4-5 Southla)
Jairus Roberson 4-15 7-8 18; Jovan Zelenbaba 5-9 0-0 14; Brian White 4-7
3-4 11; Nikos Chougkaz 2-10 6-8 10; Chudier Bile 2-7 2-2 6; Jamaure Gregg
3-5 0-3 6; Larry Owens 3-5 0-1 6; Gatdoar Kueth 1-1 2-4 4; C. J. Jones 2-3
0-1 4; John Norvel 0-1 2-2 2; Trenton Massner 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-66 22-33 81.
Southeastern La…………… 32 39 13 – 84
Northwestern St…………… 32 39 10 – 81

3-point goals–Southeastern La 10-26 (LaQuan Butler 3-4; Brewer, Ty 2-5;Julien, Von 2-3; Gonzalez, Brandon 1-3; Isiah Kirby 1-3; Caldwell, Nick1-3; Maxim Romanov 0-1; Jeremiah Saunders 0-1; Byron Smith 0-3),Northwestern St. 7-18 (Jovan Zelenbaba 4-5; Jairus Roberson 3-9; Nikos Chougkaz 0-1; Chudier Bile 0-1; Jamaure Gregg 0-1; Trenton Massner 0-1).Fouled out–Southeastern La-None, Northwestern St.-Nikos Chougkaz; ChudierBile. Rebounds–Southeastern La 43 (Brewer, Ty 11), Northwestern St. 50 (Nikos Chougkaz 11). Assists–Southeastern La 15 (Julien, Von 8),Northwestern St. 16 (Brian White 5). Total fouls–Southeastern La 27,Northwestern St. 25. Technical fouls–Southeastern La-Caldwell, Nick,Northwestern St.-Chudier Bile. A-1303