Southeastern football continued its winning ways in the state of Texas this past Saturday (Nov. 5) by beating the Lamar Cardinals 47-31 behind 527 yards of total offense. 

The Lions never trailed during the game despite leading by one possession throughout before ultimately pulling away in the fourth quarter. 

Senior quarterback Cephus Johnson III threw for 179 yards on 19/27 passing for one touchdown and one interception. The Mobile native added 57 yards on the ground for the tune of two more scores. 

His counterpart, redshirt freshman Eli Sawyer, was an efficient 8/10 through the air and tossed two passing touchdowns for a total of 144 yards on the evening. 

Both signal callers’ main target man was redshirt freshman and Missouri transfer, Maurice Massey, who broke out with 10 catches for 150 yards and a pair of scoring grabs, one from each quarterback. 

Reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Gage Larvadain enjoyed a solid outing, hauling in five receptions for 54 yards and the contest’s final touchdown with just under nine minutes to play. 

Senior transfer running back Carlos Washington Jr. earned himself 18 carries on the night for 66 hard-earned yards to pair with four catches out of the backfield, resulting in 37 yards. 

Despite giving up 31 points, Southeastern’s defense stiffened on the Cardinal’s final three possessions, forcing a strip sack on Lamar QB Mike Chandler courtesy of Jack Henderson, an interception from Zy Alexander and a turnover on downs. 

The Lions move to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play with a pivotal matchup in the ‘Berry awaiting this Saturday (Nov. 12) vs. Northwestern State. The Demons are the only remaining unbeaten team in the Southland, sitting at 4-0 atop the standings but are 4-5 on the year with all five losses coming out of conference. 

Everything is on the line for this much anticipated in-state affair which kicks off at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3. 

SLU basketball tipped off Monday (Nov. 8) against the defending NAIA National Champion, Loyola New Orleans Wolfpack. 

The Green and Gold came away with a 90-72 victory, overcoming a rough start. 

After losing their top five scorers from last year’s team that made it all the way to the Southland Conference Tournament Final, Southeastern will rely on completely new faces on the court during the 2022-23 campaign. 

Five of those new faces scored in double figures on Monday night at the University Center, propelling SLU to the win. 

Freshman forward Brody Rowbury led the way with 16 points, followed by sophomore guard Roger McFarlane (13), Matthew Strange (11), Boogie Anderson (10) and Alec Woodard (10). 

Strange is a sharp-shooting senior guard who joins McFarlane in being with the program since last season. Anderson and Woodard are both graduate transfers from South Dakota and Austin Peay, respectively. 

The Wolfpack howled early on, only trailing 40-37 at halftime and even took a 49-47 lead with 17:09 remaining in the second half. 

However, the Lions roared back, outscoring Loyola New Orleans 43-23 from that point forward and moving Southeastern to 1-0 on the young year. 

Next up is Colorado State (Nov. 11) and Wyoming (Nov. 13) for a weekend road trip before returning home to take on Kennesaw State in Boone, NC. next Friday, Nov. 18. 

Women’s hoops also began its season with a win, defeating LSUA 73-27 in Hammond. 

Upperclassmen Hailey Giaratano, Alexius Horne and Chrissy Brown all reached double-digit points in the box score with 16, 10 and 10. 

Check out The Lion’s Roar coverage for further analysis. 

Lady Lions volleyball dropped its match vs. last place Lamar last Thursday (Nov. 3) in Texas, but did bounce back with two straight victories over Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 5) and McNeese (Nov. 10). 

SLU lost 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 23-25, 14-25) in Beaumont before responding with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-13) drubbing over TAMUC at the University Center. 

The Green and Gold just took down the McNeese State Cowgirls earlier today in Lake Charles, 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-11, 22-20) in an epic final set showdown.

Outside hitter duo Kailin Newsome and Cicily Hidalgo combined for 43 kills and 42 digs, while sophomore setter Gracie Duplechein paced the team with 27 assists and a pair of aces. Southeastern fell behind 4-0 but battled back to finally gain a two-point edge of 22-20 to secure the all-important win. The Lady Lions are now 22-7 (12-5 SLC) and are tied with McNeese for second place in the conference standings with just a single game remaining on the schedule. 

HCU is 12-4 and currently in first place by half a game. 

UIW comes to town Saturday, Nov. 12 for SLU’s Senior Night. Game time is for noon and will be televised on ESPN+ as the Southland Conference regular season crown could be on the line. 

Southeastern will have the luxury of hosting the conference tournament at the University Center which will be played this coming Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 17-20.