Lions fall to ACU on three-pointer in final seconds, 75-72

HAMMOND, La. – Abilene Christian’s Payten Ricks hit a three-pointer with two seconds left to defeat the Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team, 75-72, Saturday at the University Center.

Southeastern (4-12, 0-3 Southland) was led by senior Marlain Veal with 19 points on 15-for-16 shooting from the free throw line. Senior Moses Greenwood recorded his sixth double-double of the season scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Senior Keith Charleston added 14 points and seven rebounds.

ACU (14-3, 3-1 Southland) was led by Ricks with 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting including four three-pointers. B.J Maxwell added 13 points and seven rebounds to pace the Wildcats.

The Lions, who came into the game shooting 63 percent from the free throw line, shot 31-for-33 (94 percent) from the charity stripe and are 44-for-47 in their last two games. SLU outrebounded ACU 35-28 but shot just 19-for-50 for 38 percent. The Wildcats were 27-for-56 for 48 percent.

The game was highly contested wire-to-wire. Abilene Christian’s largest lead was seven while SLU’s was five.

The Lions took a 72-70 lead with 1:02 remaining when Greenwood hit a jumper. Moments later, ACU’s Jaren Lewis scored to tie the game with 36 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, SLU turned it over with 14 seconds left setting up the game-winner. Ricks hit a high-arching three-pointer to give the Wildcats the stunning win.

“It’s tough,” said fifth-year SLU men’s head basketball coach Jay Ladner. “That was a very good team we played so I give those guys credit. But we had a chance on our last possession before the turnover. We had Moses (Greenwood) wide open under the basket and couldn’t get it to him and then they come down and hit the three. I’ve just never seen anything like this in my life. I mean sooner or later you would think somebody is going to miss the game-winner but it just hasn’t happen. But we are going to keep working hard and continue to build on tonight.”

The loss was the Lions’ fifth in six games decided with under five seconds remaining. SLU fell at Grambling, 68-67, when GSU hit two free throws with two seconds left on Dec. 19. Southeastern lost at Bradley, 63-60, on a three-pointer with four seconds left on Dec. 22. The Lions were stunned at home by UL Lafayette, 73-72, on Dec. 29 on a dunk with 2.9 seconds left and lost, 73-71, at home to Central Arkanas on Jan. 12 after an offensive rebound was tipped in with less than a second remaining.

SLU will host Lamar Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the University Center before embarking on a three-game road trip at McNeese, Houston Baptist and Northwestern State.

Wednesday’s game will be heard online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive. Follow live stats on the men’s basketball schedule page.

INSIDE SOUTHEASTERN BASKETBALL WITH JAY LADNER
Each Monday night at 7 p.m., beginning Jan. 7th, ‘Inside Southeastern Basketball with Jay Ladner’ broadcasts live on 90.9 KSLU from Rainbow Daiquiris at 14384 West Thomas Street. Talk college hoops with Coach Ladner and host Allen Waddell, cover the finer points of each game and preview upcoming games. If you can’t join the crowd, you can submit a question at www.LionSports.net for the “Ask the Coach” segment. Inside Southeastern Basketball with Jay Ladner airs each Monday night during the Lions’ Southland Conference schedule on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network.

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 @SLU_Hoops and @CoachLadner on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

BOX SCORE

At Hammond, La. — University Center
ABILENE CHRISTIAN 75, SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 72

ABILENE CHRISTIAN (14-3, 3-1 SLC)
Ricks, Payten 7-8 4-6 22; Maxwell, B.J. 4-11 4-4 13; Pleasant, Joe 4-9 3-3 11; Daniels, Damien 5-5 0-0 10; Lewis, Jaren 3-11 2-2 8; Franklin, Jaylen 2-6 0-2 4; Lenox, Trey 1-1 0-0 3; Kohl, Kolton 0-1 2-3 2; Farquhar, Hayden 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 27-56 15-20 75.

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (4-12, 0-3 SLC)
Veal, Marlain 2-12 15-16 19; Greenwood, Moses 5-12 5-5 15; Charleston, Keith
4-9 5-6 14; Julien, Von 3-4 2-2 8; Gonzalez, Brandon 2-4 2-2 7; Diop, Pape 2-3 0-0 5; Brewer, Ty 1-4 0-0 2; Brown, Kajon 0-1 2-2 2; Saunders, Jeremiah 0-1 0-0 0; West, D’Angelo 0-0 0-0 0; Edwards, Parker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 31-33 72.

Abilene Christian…………. 34 41 – 75
Southeastern Louisiana…….. 35 37 – 72

3-point goals–Abilene Christian 6-13 (Ricks, Payten 4-4; Lenox, Trey 1-1; Maxwell, B.J. 1-6; Farquhar, Hayden 0-2), Southeastern Louisiana 3-8 (Gonzalez, Brandon 1-2; Diop, Pape 1-1; Charleston, Keith 1-1; Saunders, Jeremiah 0-1; Veal, Marlain 0-3). Fouled out–Abilene Christian-Pleasant, Joe; Franklin, Jaylen, Southeastern Louisiana-None. Rebounds—Abilene Christian 28 (Maxwell, B.J. 7), Southeastern Louisiana 35 (Greenwood, Moses 11). Assists–Abilene Christian 10 (Lewis, Jaren 4), Southeastern Louisiana 7 (Veal, Marlain 2; Brown, Kajon 2; Julien, Von 2). Total fouls–Abilene
Christian 26, Southeastern Louisiana 17. Technical fouls—Abilene Christian-None, Southeastern Louisiana-None. A-563