Veal’s three-pointer sends Southeastern to thrilling win at Tulane

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Senior Marlain Veal drilled a three-pointer with two seconds left to lift the Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball team to a come-back win over Tulane University 62-61 Saturday at Avron B. Fogelman Arena.

The Lions (4-4) opened the game on a 7-0 run highlighted by a three-pointer and lay-up by senior Moses Greenwood. The Green Wave battled back to tie the game at 9-9 with 12:49 left in the first half. Southeastern quickly responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead 17-9.

Tulane exploded with a 22-3 burst to make it 31-20 with 1:49 remaining in the half. SLU scored five quick points to end the half to quiet the crowd. The Green Wave led 31-25 at halftime.

Tulane held a two possession lead for much of the second half and appeared to have the game sealed leading 57-46 with 4:33 remaining but SLU had other ideas. Veal, the reigning Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year, took over scoring 11 points in the final 4 minutes.

Veal and sophomore Brandon Gonzalez hit consecutive three-pointers to trim the lead to 58-52. The Lions cut the lead to one after a free throw by Kajon Brown and consecutive lay-ups by Veal to make it 58-57 with 1:03 remaining. After a free throw by Tulane, Veal scored again making it 60-59 Green Wave. Tulane made one of two free throws with 11 seconds left setting the stage for Veal’s heroics.

After fifth-year Southeastern men’s head basketball coach Jay Ladner called a timeout, Brown inbounded to Veal. The New Orleans native took it to the top of the key and rose over two Green Wave’ defenders and drilled the three-pointer with two seconds left sending the Southeastern bench into a frenzy and clinching a remarkable come-from-behind win.

“It seemed like everything was in slow motion,” said Veal. “We had a play drawn up but they kind of took us away from it. So I just had to create and make something happen and was able to hit the shot.”

Veal finished with a game-high 22 points and added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Greenwood finished with 11 points and five rebounds passing Ricky Woods and Robert Cousin in the all-time SLU scoring list. The Sharon, Mississippi native has scored 1,073 points in his illustrious career to put him 15th all-time. Despite the record setting night, Greenwood left the game with 8:46 to go and didn’t return. The Lions’ leading scorer cut his left eye diving to the floor for a loose ball requiring several stitches.

“I was proud of the fact that we kept fighting,” said Ladner. “When Moses went out, it didn’t look real good for us. He is the heart and soul of our team and for us to hold it together and the entire team to step up shows alot. We just kept chipping away and then Marlain hit the big shot. Much respect to Tulane though for putting us in a lot of difficult spots by constantly putting us in tough matchups. But our guys just simply refused to give up.”

Tulane (2-5) was led by Jordan Cornish with 18 points while Caleb Daniels added 14.

Southeastern will be back in action Wednesday, Dec. 12 against Ole Miss at 6:30 p.m. The game will be played at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi with the game broadcast on SEC Network+.

Links for live stats and play-by-play radio will be available at the men’s basketball schedule page at LionSports.net.

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

Southeastern Louisiana vs Tulane
12/1/18 3:39 p.m. at New Orleans
At New Orleans
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 62, TULANE 61
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (4-4)
Veal, Marlain 8-16 4-4 22; Greenwood, Moses 5-13 0-0 11; Brown, Kajon 4-10
1-2 9; Charleston, Keith 3-8 0-0 7; Julien, Von 2-5 0-0 5; Brewer, Ty 2-2
0-1 4; Gonzalez, Brandon 1-2 0-0 3; Thomas, Quinton 0-2 1-2 1; Edwards,
Parker 0-1 0-0 0; Diop, Pape 0-0 0-0 0; West, D’Angelo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
25-60 6-9 62.
TULANE (2-5)
CORNISH, Jordan 6-13 3-4 18; DANIELS, Caleb 5-10 2-3 14; CRABTREE, Connor
2-4 2-2 8; ZHANG, Kevin 4-6 0-0 8; BARRETT, Shakwon 3-9 1-4 7; WOOD, Moses
1-2 0-0 2; SEHIC, Samir 0-1 2-2 2; PAUL, Blake 1-2 0-0 2; KOKA, Buay 0-2 0-0
0. Totals 22-49 10-15 61.
Southeastern Louisiana…….. 25 37 – 62
Tulane…………………… 31 30 – 61
3-point goals–Southeastern Louisiana 6-19 (Veal, Marlain 2-5; Greenwood,
Moses 1-3; Charleston, Keith 1-3; Julien, Von 1-2; Gonzalez, Brandon 1-2;
Edwards, Parker 0-1; West, D’Angelo 0-1; Thomas, Quinton 0-1; Brown, Kajon
0-1), Tulane 7-17 (CORNISH, Jordan 3-4; CRABTREE, Connor 2-3; DANIELS, Caleb
2-4; WOOD, Moses 0-1; SEHIC, Samir 0-1; BARRETT, Shakwon 0-2; ZHANG, Kevin
0-2). Fouled out–Southeastern Louisiana-None, Tulane-None.
Rebounds–Southeastern Louisiana 33 (Brown, Kajon 9), Tulane 33 (ZHANG,
Kevin 9). Assists–Southeastern Louisiana 11 (Julien, Von 4; Veal, Marlain
4), Tulane 12 (BARRETT, Shakwon 4). Total fouls–Southeastern Louisiana 19,
Tulane 15. Technical fouls–Southeastern Louisiana-None, Tulane-None. A-1743