Veal receives second career Southland Player of the Week honor

HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana junior guard Marlain Veal was named the Southland Conference Player of the Week on Monday after helping the Lions through a historic run through the Savannah Invitational.

Veal led Southeastern (4-3) to three straight wins away from Hammond for the first time since 2006 as the New Orleans native averaged 15 points, 6.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 4.0 rebounds on the week. He tied for team-high honors with 22 points in helping the Lions rally from a 12-point deficit to defeat previously-unbeaten Kent State 70-66 on Tuesday. He also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Veal followed that performance by tying his career high for assists with 10 against Samford in a 77-71 victory on Friday. The 10 assists tied for the most by a Southland player this season. Veal also recorded 14 points to earn his second career double-double.

He wrapped up the week with nine points, five rebounds and a team-high seven assists in a 73-59 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday.

Veal currently leads Southeastern and is tied for 15^th in the conference in averaging 14.4 points per game. He leads the league with 38 assists while his 5.4 assists per game rank second. He is also seventh with 2.3 steals and 14^th in assists/turnover ratio at 1.4 while averaging 3.1 rebounds.

Monday’s honor is the second of Veal’s career. He was also honored for the second week of the 2016-17 season, becoming the first Lion honored since Brandon Fortenberry in February 2011. Southland Conference Players of the Week are presented by UniversalCoin.com.

Veal was also named the College Sports Madness Southland Player of the Week on Monday.

“I’m very excited and I think it’s well deserved,” Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner said. “He’s a young man who is really dedicated to his craft. He gets better and better every game and every year. He studies film and is in my office constantly trying to learn how to get better. He takes coaching very well and that’s a big step for him because when he came out of high school, he wasn’t like that. He was like a typical freshman. Any time he would be corrected, he would puff up a little bit so he has really grown and mature and is on his way to becoming one of the best players to ever play for Southeastern. I think that is great credit to him.

“I also think it is a great credit to his teammates and I think he would be the first one to tell you that. A lot of times with the team’s success, guys get more individual recognition. Being able to win the last three games and with him playing a major role, I think that had a lot to do with that. I certainly congratulate him but his teammates as well and hopefully we keep progressing.”

Southeastern returns home for the first time since Nov. 10 to host Loyola-New Orleans for Study Break Night Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the University Center. The game will be televised live on Cox Sports Television and will be available on ESPN3 outside of the CST viewing area. The game can also be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.