Turnover doom Lions in home loss to Bearkats

Turnovers Doom Lions, Fall to Bearkats

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team had 19 turnovers as they fell to league-leading Sam Houston, 62-52, Wednesday night at the University Center snapping a four-game winning streak.

The Lions (8-13, 4-4 Southland) were led by freshman Jeremiah Saunders with 12 points. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native hit four three-pointers in the first half. Senior Von Julien had a solid night scoring six points, adding five rebounds and dished out eight assists. Moses Greenwood added nine points and seven rebounds.

Despite the loss, the Lions held Sam Houston (13-8, 8-0 Southland) to just 38 percent shooting (21-for-54.)

“That’s certainly more than good enough to win,” said fifth-year SLU head coach Jay Ladner. “We just didn’t take care of the basketball tonight and it hurt us and you can’t do that against a quality opponent like Sam Houston.”

SLU struggled early in the first half committing eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes but hung tough trailing 19-15 with 8:37 to go.

The Lions battled back despite committing 10 first half turnovers. SLU took the lead at halftime, 30-26.

Southeastern maintained a two-possession lead, 38-34, early in the second half until the Bearkats stormed on a 17-3 run taking a 51-41 lead with 6:43 remaining. The Lions’ offense remained quiet for the final six minutes as the Bearkats hung on for the win.

Senior Marlain Veal was absent from the starting line-up for the first time this year.

“I’m just going to address that elephant in the room,” said Ladner. “He missed class, plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s a rule we have and he broke it.”

Sam Houston had four players score in double figures led by R.J. Smith with 15 points. Chad Bowie added 12 while Josh Delaney had 11 and Kai Mitchell had 10.

The Lions were outrebounded for the first time since Jan. 2 at Stephen F. Austin. The Bearkats had 33 rebounds to 32 for SLU.

“The effort was there,” said Ladner. “But we just didn’t execute on the offensive end, especially in the second half.”

SLU will host Nicholls (10-10, 3-4 Southland) at 4 p.m. at the University Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 3 and can be heard live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the Lions Game Day Experience, Radio FX and TuneIn Radio apps.

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: SAM HOUSTON STATE 62, SOUTHEASTERN LA. 52

SAM HOUSTON STATE (13-8, 8-0 SLC)

Smith, RJ 5-7 3-4 15; Bowie, Chad 5-9 0-1 12; Delaney, Josh 2-9 5-6 11; Mitchell, Kai 4-6 2-2 10; Nutall, Zach 3-5 1-2 7; Harris, Marcus 1-5 0-0 3; Almanza, Albert 1-3 0-0 2; Delaney, Cameron 0-9 2-2 2; Ndu, Chidozie 0-0 0-0 0; Bryant, Xavier 0-1 0-0 0; Matthews, Zaqwaun 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 13-17 62.

SOUTHEASTERN LA. (8-13, 4-4 SLC)

Saunders,Jeremiah 4-5 0-0 12; Greenwood,Moses 4-7 1-3 9; Veal,Marlain 2-10 3-4 7; Gonzalez,Brandon 2-8 0-0 6; Julien,Von 3-9 0-0 6; Starwood,Maxwell 2-3 0-0 5; Charleston,Keith 2-2 0-0 4; Diop,Pape 0-0 3-4 3; Brown,Kajon 0-0 0-0 0; Brewer,Ty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-44 7-11 52.

Sam Houston State………….26 36 – 62
Southeastern La…………… 30 22 – 52

3-point goals–Sam Houston State 7-26 (Delaney, Josh 2-6; Bowie, Chad 2-4; Smith, RJ 2-2; Harris, Marcus 1-3; Delaney, Cameron 0-6; Bryant, Xavier 0-1; Almanza, Albert 0-2; Nutall, Zach 0-2), Southeastern La. 7-22 (Saunders,Jeremiah 4-5; Gonzalez,Brandon 2-8; Starwood,Maxwell 1-1; Julien,Von 0-4; Veal,Marlain 0-4). Fouled out–Sam Houston State-None, Southeastern La.-None. Rebounds–Sam Houston State 33 (Delaney, Cameron 6), Southeastern La. 32 (Greenwood,Moses 7). Assists–Sam Houston State 8 (Delaney, Cameron 3; Delaney, Josh 3), Southeastern La. 14 (Julien,Von 8). Total fouls–Sam Houston State 17, Southeastern La. 17. Technical fouls–Sam Houston State-Smith, RJ, Southeastern La.-Greenwood,Moses. A-1029