March 8, 2005

Box Score

HAMMOND, La. - Southland Conference regular season co-champion Southeastern Louisiana started two of the league's first-team all-conference selections Tuesday in the Lions' first-round game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts SLC Tournament. But it was another gun that shot bullets into Texas State's upset bid.

Southeastern guard Jonathon Patton scored 21 points, knocking down 5-of-9 three-pointers to help lead the Lions to a 75-58 win over Texas State in front of 1,786 in the University Center.

"We had to protect down low with the presence of Ricky (Woods) and (Nate) Lofton," said Texas State coach Dennis Nutt. "It was just one of those cases of picking your poison."

Both Lofton and Woods had been named First-Team All-Southland Conference earlier in the week and the pari have also been honored with the last two Newcomer of the Year awards in the SLC, Woods this year and Lofton last season. Woods had five points at halftime but finished with 19. Lofton scored 11 to go with eight rebounds along with six steals and five assists.

But it was Patton's play Tuesday, especially late in the first half in helping erase a nine-point Texas State lead, which proved deadly. The senior from Picayune, Miss., scored 16 of his game-high points in the half and at one point in the period made three straight from behind the arc to put the Lions up 32-26 with a minute to play before intermission.

With the win, SLU improved to 22-8 and will play host to the No. 3 seed, Sam Houston State, Thursday in one of the tournament's semifinals. The other semifinal game pits Lamar at Northwestern State. The winners of Thursday's semifinals will play Sunday on the highest remaining seed's home floor for the tournament championship and the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In a 51-39 regular-season loss to Southeastern earlier in the season, a 27-percent shooting clip had taken the Bobcats out of the game early. On Tuesday, it was forced turnovers that sparked the Lions to their 27th home-court win in their last 29 games.

Texas State committed 19 turnovers which led to 30 SLU points.

Two of the Bobcats' turnovers came during the early stages of a 13-2 Southeastern run that turned a tied ballgame with just over 17 minutes to play into a 49-38 Lion lead midway through the second period.

Josh Naylor had tied the game at 36-36 with a jumper at the 17:18 mark. A shooting foul on Lance Burroughs sent Ricky Woods to the line for a pair of free throws that put the Lions back out in front and he would extend the lead with an alley-oop dunk from Lofton. Neill Berry would drain a three-pointer after a Texas State turnover and SLU was out in front 43-36 with 14:22 to play.

After two free throws by Texas State's Roderick Adams, Southeastern scored six straight points highlighted by Patton stepping in for a jumper to give the Lions a 49-38 lead with 9:52 remaining.

The Bobcats went on an 8-0 run early in the first half to jump out to as much as a nine-point lead, 15-6 with 15:11 to play in the period. Naylor started the run with a three-pointer, Andre Oupoh made a pair of free throws and Markee White had a short jumper before Matt Canady's tip-in of a Naylor miss capped the rally.

"I thought we got off to a good start," Nutt said. "We were focused early but we just couldn't maintain it."

Southeastern, the league's regular-season co-champion got back in the game with a flurry later in the period. Patton drained a trio of three-pointers during a 14-0 Lion run as SLU went back on top 32-26 on Patterson's third trey of the run with 1:03 remaining in the period.

Patton had cut the Bobcats' lead to 26-23 with his first three-pointer and his second with 1:52 to play put SLU in front 28-26 with 1:52 left in the half.

Texas State shot 76 percent from the field in the period, making 10-of-13 shots but turned the ball over nine times in the half which led to 15 of the Lions' 32 first-half points. The `Cats began the game by making five of their first six shots from the field.

The Bobcats would cut Southeastern's lead to 32-30 at the break on a pair of free throws by Lance Burroughs with 1.3 seconds left in the half. Patton had a three-pointer bounce off the rim and Lion center Nate Lofton was whistled for a hold in trying to block out Burroughs.

Tuesday's game was the final contest for three Texas State seniors. Zach Allison, Anthony Dill and Naylor all played in their final collegiate game. Naylor scored 14 points to lead the Bobcats. He was 4-for-6 from three-point range. Allison scored 10 points and had six rebounds. Dill found himself in foul trouble, picking up his third personal with three minutes to play in the first half. He was whistled for his fourth with 18:14 to play. The Richardson scored five points and had five rebounds in 19 minutes of play.

Canady did not return after a first-half knee injury and will undergo further evaluation in San Marcos on Wednesday.