Southeastern battles past McNeese, 74-71

LAKE CHARLES, La. – The reigning Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team made 14 straight free throws in the final three minutes as they battled past McNeese, 74-71, Saturday at H&HP Complex.

The Lions (6-12, 2-3 Southland) shot 19-for-22 from the free throw line. The Lions are now shooting 83-for-99 (84 percent) in Southland Conference games from the charity stripe.

Senior Marlain Veal led the Lions with 27 points, 19 in the second half, including five three-pointers. The New Orleans, Louisiana native was 10-for-11 from the free throw line. Moses Greenwood added 14 points and nine rebounds. Von Julien and Brandon Gonzalez each had 10.

The Cowboys (6-13, 2-4 Southland) were led by Roydell Brown with 24 points and seven rebounds. Kevin Hunt chipped in with 12.

With the game tied at 57-57 with 4:13 remaining, Julien scored five straight points on two free throws and a three-pointer to make it 62-57 Lions.

“McNeese is a very athletic team,” said fifth-year SLU head basketball coach Jay Ladner. “They force you to play concepts which is difficult. But the difference in tonight, as opposed to games the last few weeks, is that we kept our composure offensively. I thought Marlain, Moses and Von really made some big plays. The one thing I’m not too thrilled with is the way we played defensively down the stretch or I feel like we could have put it away sooner.”

SLU outrebounded McNeese 35-24 as the Lions have won the rebounding battle by 53 in their last eight games.

“That’s significant considering we aren’t real big,” said Ladner. “But I thought our guys did a really good job of making sure we never lost sight of our man defensively and limiting them to one shot. The main thing for tonight is that we are getting where we want to be but aren’t there yet. But we aren’t far away at all.”

The Lions will continue the three-game road trip Wednesday night against Houston Baptist at 7 p.m.

Wednesday’s game will be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the Lions Game Day Experience, TuneIn Radio and RadioFX apps.

INSIDE SOUTHEASTERN BASKETBALL WITH JAY LADNER
Each Monday night at 7 p.m., beginning Jan. 7, ‘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 Lake Charles, La. (McNeese H&HP Complex)
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 74, MCNEESE 71

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (6-12 (2-3))
Veal, Marlain 6-16 10-11 27; Greenwood, Moses 6-10 2-2 14; Gonzalez, Brandon 3-7 2-3 10; Julien, Von 2-5 4-4 10; Charleston, Keith 3-4 0-0 6; Brewer, Ty 1-3 1-2 3; Diop, Pape 1-1 0-0 2; Brown, Kajon 1-4 0-0 2; Edwards, Parker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 19-22 74.
MCNEESE (6-13 (2-4))
Brown, Roydell 9-14 6-7 24; Hunt, Kevin 5-8 1-2 12; Touchet, Trey 3-9 2-2 9; Greenwood, Jarren 3-6 0-0 7; Harvey, James 3-7 1-1 7; Kennedy, Shamarkus 3-6 0-0 6; Hines, Malik 3-6 0-0 6; Brown, AJ 0-0 0-0 0; Robinson, Will 0-1 0-0 0; Johnson, Trey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 10-12 71.

Southeastern Louisiana…….. 30 44 – 74
McNeese………………………… 29 42 – 71

3-point goals–Southeastern Louisiana 9-23 (Veal, Marlain 5-8; Gonzalez, Brandon 2-5; Julien, Von 2-4; Brown, Kajon 0-3; Edwards, Parker 0-1; Greenwood, Moses 0-2), McNeese 3-15 (Hunt, Kevin 1-4; Touchet, Trey 1-4; Greenwood, Jarren 1-2; Harvey, James 0-3; Brown, Roydell 0-2). Fouled out–Southeastern Louisiana-None, McNeese-Kennedy, Shamarkus. Rebounds–Southeastern Louisiana 35 (Greenwood, Moses 9), McNeese 24 (Brown, Roydell 7). Assists–Southeastern Louisiana 13 (Julien, Von 4), McNeese 16 (Touchet, Trey 5). Total fouls–Southeastern Louisiana 15, McNeese 19.
Technical fouls–Southeastern Louisiana-None, McNeese-None. A-2497