The Lions basketball season came to an end last Thursday after losing to Houston Baptist in the second round of the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament. The Lions finished the season with a record (12-21, 9-9 Southland).
“I really felt good about how the team played,” said Head Men’s basketball Coach Jay Ladner. “ I was certainly disappointed that we didn’t win the second game although that same team (Houston Baptist) beat us by 19 in early January. We had a small lead with about five minutes left so it was really anybody’s game.”
The Lions won their first round matchup of the Tournament against the University of New Orleans (UNO) 84-74. It was their third time beating UNO this season. Senior guard Zay Jackson led five other Lions with double-digit scoring with 17 points followed by junior guard Joshua Filmore with 13 points and freshman guard Marlain Veal with 11 points. Junior forward Jordan Capps and sophomore forward James Currington had 10 points.
In the second game against Houston Baptist, the Lions took a 4-3 lead in the first half after back-to-back layups by Capps. HBU then proceeded to go on an 11-2 run to go up by eight by the 8:01 mark. Senior guard JaMichael Hawkins made a three-pointer during HBU’s 12-3 run that closed out the half with a score 20-33.
In the second half the Lions looked reenergized as they went on a 9-1 run to make the score 29-34 off of a Capps layup. The Lions eventually took the lead 37-34 after a three by Filmore completing a 15-0 run for the Lions at the 14:49 mark in the second half. The two teams would go on to trade leads nine times in the next seven minutes before HBU went on a 11-2 run to take the lead 53-61 with 4:11 left. Hawkins made a three with 38 seconds left to cut the lead to 62-67, but the Lions could not get any closer than that effectively ending the game.
Capps led his team in scoring in this game with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Filmore had 18 points and Hawkins chipped in with 12 points.
Capps got his seventh double-double of the season and his second in the tournament which helped him to be named to the Southland Conference All-Tournament Squad.
Hawkins, Jackson and senior forward Byron Smith all played their last game as Lions in the game against HBU.
“The culture of our team relies on them for leadership,” said Ladner. “And we just reminded those guys that we needed them and we needed their experience in these tough games. And I can’t say enough about [how much] those guys they will be sorely missed.”
While the team was away, heavy rain in Louisiana led to some flooding on campus. The University Center did receive flooding around the basketball court and it will have to be replaced.
“That was terrible news,” said Ladner. “But we will figure it out. We practice at the Pennington Center or in the Kinesiology gym. We won’t let it hold us back.”