Southeastern defeated Texas A&M-Commerce 79-73 at the University Center on Saturday afternoon to claim its fifth victory in its last six games. 

The win puts the surging Lions at 5-2 atop the Southland standings with rival Nicholls and 11-9 overall. 

TAMUC jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but SLU roared back behind a 19-5 run to take its largest lead of the game, 19-11, with 9:50 left in the first half. 

However, after a Demarcus Demonta made three, the visiting Lions found themselves back on top 30-23 after a 19-4 blitz of their own to silence the UC. 

Southeastern would score the half’s final four points to trim the lead to one possession, 30-27, at the break. 

Roscoe Eastmond’s three-point play with 13:01 remaining in the game would put SLU up 50-49. 

The opening seven minutes of the second period saw each team fight back and forth at losing and reclaiming the lead. 

Nevertheless, Eastmond’s key sequence would erase all of that, as the Lions maintained the advantage from that point forward, ultimately winning by six. 

“I like playing at a fast pace. If I keep the defense on their heels, then they’re not able to set up and it’s easier for them to get away from their man. Once they collapse on me, I already know where my teammates are going to be and I just have to get to my spot,” said the junior guard out of Marietta, Ga. 

Eastmond dished out a season-high eight assists against TAMUC while adding 15 points along with two steals in the winning effort. 

He was joined by four other Southeastern players in double figures: Sami Pissis (16), Alec Woodard (15), Roger McFarlane (14) and Nick Caldwell (12). 

McFarlane tallied a career-high 13 rebounds which was good for his third straight double-double of the season. The sophomore guard from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. has really come into his own as of late. 

Despite being less efficient from the field (49.1-46.4%) and three-point land (38.9-33.3%) than Texas A&M-Commerce, SLU slaughtered their fellow Lions from the charity stripe.

Southeastern as a team shot 19/23 (82.6%) from the free throw line while Commerce converted just 5/12 (41.7%) of their attempts. 

The Green and Gold were without their leading scorer, assist maker and steals leader in graduate transfer Boogie Anderson, who was injured on Thursday night against Northwestern State. 

The 6’4 guard from South Dakota averages 12.5 points per game, 4.3 assists and 1.6 steals on the season. 

Freshman forward Brody Rowbury was also absent from the lineup for the third consecutive contest after getting injured last Thursday, Jan. 12 vs. Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.

The big man out of Meridian, Id. has put up a solid 7.9 points per contest and six boards per game.

“Our guys don’t get caught up in who our leading scorer is and who gets the credit. We have an unselfish group and are player led. We play for each other,” said Head Coach David Kiefer on his squad’s win over TAMUC. 

The red-hot Lions will face UNO next in the UC on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. before traveling across Lake Pontchartrain to battle the Privateers at their home on Saturday at 4 p.m.