Southeastern’s men’s basketball team defeated the University of New Orleans 73-68 away from home on Saturday, Jan. 6, then fell short to Nicholls 66-61 in Thibodaux on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
The Lions are now 6-9 on the season with a 1-1 record in the SLC. Prior to the loss to the Colonels, SLU ripped off four straight wins after starting the season 2-8.
Sophomore forward Brock Rowbury starred in the win over UNO with 19 points on an uber-efficient 78% from the field. Junior guard Roger McFarlane added 16 points and 10 boards, while senior guard Roscoe Eastmond had 12 points on 5-5 shooting from the floor.
Rowbury scored four points and swiped away a steal in the last 1:42 against the Privateers to deliver the win.
Against Nicholls, SLU’s offense struggled to produce. The Lions went cold from three, shooting just 23.1% and a dreadful 54.5% from the free throw line.
Meanwhile, the Colonels had four players enter double-figures including forward Diontae Smith (18), forward Jamal West Jr. (16), guard Robert Brown lll (16) and guard Bryon Ireland (10).
Collectively, they buried nine triples, including six in the first half.
Senior guard/forward Nick Caldwell led Southeastern in scoring with 20 points on 69%, while Rowbury had another excellent game with 15 points and six rebounds; Rowbury shot 60% from the floor.
SLU was down by as many as 13 points in the first half, but cut the lead to six before intermission. A late 11-1 run in the last 4:30 made the score 32-26 entering the break.
Southeastern was never able to take the lead in the second half despite the offense being more productive. The Lions shot 48.4% in the second period, a stark improvement from the 40.7% shooting in the first.
Caldwell made his only three of the game with 1:12 left to play to make the score 63-60, but the Lions ran out of juice, unable to complete the comeback.
The Green and Gold will look to bounce back against the McNeese Cowboys in Lake Charles on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m.
The Cowboys are riding high with an eight-game winning streak and an overall record of 13-2; however, with the recent surge, the Lions can pull off an upset victory before returning home to Hammond, America.
Tune in to ESPN+ to catch the game live, and for more information on Lions basketball, visit The Lion’s Roar.
