The Lion’s Roar / Alex Brainard
The Lions lost their game against LSUA this past weekend, but the team is looking to improve on their aggression, speed, and not allow the ball to go into the post. The team is young, and ready to show what they can do.
Fans crowded in the University Center to watch the Lions basketball team take on LSU Alexandria for their season opening scrimmage. Although both teams fought hard, LSUA beat the Lions with an overall score of 82–68, on Wednesday October 28.
Southeastern head men’s basketball Coach Jay Ladner complimented LSUA’s team and their coach Larry Cordaro.
“You have to give LSU Alexandria a lot of credit,” said Ladner. “They are one heck of a team; they shot the ball really well, [and they were] highly motivated. I told Coach Cordaro after the game he did a great job.”
While the Lions fought to make a comeback during the second half, Ladner gave some areas that need to be improved.
“We have to play quicker, be more aggressive, not allow the ball to come into the post,” said Ladner. “We didn’t do that the first half. Obviously in the second half our intensity level picked up a little bit. We began to play much better, but we dug ourselves a hole.”
Once the second half of the game started, the team seemed to have good chemistry between each other.
“During the second half I was trying to get everybody involved,” said senior guard Zay Jackson. “It was just about trying to win the game, catching up, push the ball and just go until they stop me.”
Freshman guard Dimi Cook was the Lions’ lead scorer, attempting 7 goals and making 6.
Jackson made 4 assists, putting him in the lead of most assists made on the Lions team.
Sophomore forward James Currington had a total of 10 rebounds (3 offense and 7 defensive).
“[We have a] very new team,” said Ladner. “A lot of new players, a lot of guys playing their first division one games. We weren’t playing hard enough; we just weren’t playing with as much effort as we needed too. Once our intensity picked up it fed our offense and we began to score and do a much better job.”
While over 965 people attended the game, it was the halftime show that was very interactive with the audience. To celebrate the Halloween game, fans and students also had opportunities to participate in a mummy wrapping activity during the halftime show.
“We always do something at halftime,” said coordinator of student marketing and promotions Lindsey Cramer. “Most of the time it involves fan and/or student participation. We have two tables set up in the concourse (one for fans and one for students) where they are able to hear about the promotions for the game and sign up to play activities.”
Cramer went into detail for what she wants to accomplish in the future with fans and students and hopes more people will attend games. Cramer also explained how to find other promotions that will be planned out so students can choose what events they might be most interested in.
“In the future, anyone can access lionsports.net and look at the promotions we have,” said Cramer. “They have just recently been published for the basketball season. I can tell you for our next basketball event, Full Court Fest, we will have a dunk contest for the team to compete in, a three-pointer contest and a couple of other on-court activities. Full Court Fest is an annual event we hold just to introduce the students to basketball season. It’s not an actual game or scrimmage, just interaction between our student body and the men and women’s basketball team.”
The Lions basketball team will face Xavier of Louisiana and the game will take place at the University Center on Wednesday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m.