Southeastern seniors Greenwood, Veal named first team All-Southland

HAMMOND, La. – Marlain Veal and Moses Greenwood were named first team All-Southland Conference for the Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team, the league office announced Monday.

Monday marked just the third time in school history SLU had two players on the first team All-Southland team (2003-2004, Nate Lofton and Amir –Abdur-Rahim; 2004-2005, Nate Lofton and Ricky Wood).

Greenwood, a Sharon, Mississippi native, led the Southland in field goals made (211) and field goal percentage (.603). The senior (6-7, 220) was also fourth in the league in scoring (17.3 ppg), fifth in rebounding (7.5 rpg), and seventh in blocked shots (1.1 bpg). The Velma Jackson grad finished the season in style averaging 22.2 points and 8.6 rebounds in his last 10 games including a career-high 33 points against UNO in the home finale March 6.

The forward is fourth in all-time SLU scoring history with 1,481 points, second in games played (129) behind Veal, second in field goals made (576) third in blocked shots (102) and fifth in rebounding (751).

Veal, a New Orleans, Louisiana native, finished seventh in the league in scoring (15.8 ppg) and fifth in assists (4.4 apg) and steals (1.7 spg). The senior (5-9, 145) was also sixth in free throw percentage (.813) and eighth in three-point percentage (.364) while recording a triple-double (24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) in a Nov. 17 win over Stetson.  The reigning Southland Defensive Player of the Year was also named to the league’s all-defensive team.

The three-time All-Southland point guard is second all-time in program scoring (1,631) and is the all-time leader in games played (130), assists (585) and steals (214). The Helen Cox grad is also third in free throws made (439) and fifth in field goals made (513) and three-pointers made (168).

“I couldn’t think of two young men that are more deserving,” said fifth-year SLU head coach Jay Ladner. “And I’m really looking at their long term picture here. I’ve mentioned this a lot lately but you have two guys that came to Southeastern and were part of our first recruiting class and they have helped transform our program over the last four years. I just can’t think of a more fitting way for them to be recognized. The great thing about it is, it’s not really coming from me, it’s the respect they’ve earned from the conference coaches and that’s the hardest thing to get and I think it makes it mean that much more.”

Joining Veal and Greenwood on the first team were Northwestern State’s Ishmael Lane, Sam Houston State’s Cameron Delaney and Lamar’s Nick Garth.

Veal, Greenwood and the third-seeded Lions (16-15, 12-6 Southland) will be in action Thursday night at 7:30 in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference tournament against the winner of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-17, 9-9 Southland) and Central Arkansas (13-18, 8-10 Southland) who play Wednesday night.

Player of the Year: Cameron Delaney, Sam Houston State

Defensive Player of the Year: Ishmael Lane, Northwestern State

Freshman of the Year: Gerrale Gates, New Orleans

Newcomer of the Year: Kai Mitchell, Sam Houston State

Coach of the Year: Joe Golding, Abilene Christian

2018-19 All-Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Teams

² indicates two-time all-conference selection

³ indicates three-time all-conference selection

Honorable Mention: Roydell Brown, McNeese; Jeremiah Jefferson, Nicholls; Payten Ricks, Abilene Christian; Thatch Unruh, Central Arkansas.