Southeastern Louisiana Opens at Home with 95-69 Win
Southeastern Louisiana picked up a 95-69 win over Miles College in its home opener Monday night. Iowa held off UTSA 73-67 while Texas Tech avenged a 2007 loss to Sam Houston by downing the Bearkats 87-67 in Lubbock.
Southeastern Louisiana 95, Miles College 69
HAMMOND, La. ? Kevyn Green scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures and Southeastern Louisiana opened with an 11-0 run and cruised to a 95-69 win over Miles College in the Lions' home opener Monday night at the University Center.
True freshman DeShawn Patterson added 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists while Warrell Span recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as Southeastern (1-1) never trailed. Hammond's Chris Cyprian added 13 points for the Lions while Patrick Sullivan chipped in with 11.
"It wasn't exactly what we had in mind," Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. "The first few minutes were pretty good, but it became a wild-wooly affair. They (Miles) went away from a traditional lineup and went very small and created some matchup problems for us. We had to make an adjustment and we went smaller and we were able to wear them down."
Green scored five points in the Lions' opening run before Miles (0-1) scored on Flawaan Flaggs' bucket at the 17:56 mark. The Golden Bears roared back, cutting the lead to 13-12 on a 3-pointer by Flaggs before Southeastern put the game away with a 12-2 run to take a 25-14 lead.
Southeastern shot 52 percent in the first half as it built a 46-23 lead at halftime and built its biggest lead, 84-56, on a pair of free throws by Span with 4:54 left. Miles closed to within 58-43 on two free throws by LeDarius Welch with 13:03 remaining, but Patterson opened a 9-2 run for the Lions with a dunk.
Dexter LeFlore led Miles with a game-high 24 points with Leon McKinney adding 13 and Flaggs 12. The Golden Bears committed 22 turnovers and shot 34 percent for the game.
Southeastern returns to action on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. when it faces Atlantic Sun member Lipscomb to open a two-game road trip. The Lions, who will return to the University Center on Nov. 29 against Dillard, closes out the road trip next Tuesday at Big 12 member Texas Tech.
Iowa 73, UTSA 67
IOWA CITY, Iowa ? Junior Omar Johnson led a balanced scoring attack with 17 points, but Iowa got 18 from Cyrus Tate and made its final 14 free throws to hold off UTSA, 73-67, on Monday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Roadrunners (0-2) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, but behind Johnson’s 13 second-half points, UTSA mounted a furious rally and led by as many as three in the final eight minutes.
An Anthony Tucker three from left wing with 1:48 to play gave Iowa (2-0) a 67-62 lead, but Johnson answered with his third trey with 33 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game. Sophomore Devin Gibson, the defending NCAA steals champion, appeared to come up with his sixth theft of the evening, but was whistled for a foul near midcourt, putting Matt Gatens on the line to increase the Hawkeyes lead to four. The Roadrunners had two more chances in the final 15 ticks to pull within two, but Iowa held on for the dramatic six-point victory.
Johnson was 5-for-8 from the floor ? including 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line, and he was a perfect 4-of-4 on free throws. He added five assists and three rebounds in 32 minutes of action.
Gabbidon joined Johnson in double figures with 12, while five other Roadrunners scored six or more points, including senior Joey Shank who drained a trio of 3-pointers for nine points.
Tucker posted 15 points for Iowa, while Jermain Davis and Matt Gatens added 10 apiece. Davis was the star at the charity stripe for the Hawkeyes, converting 10-of-10 on the night.
Iowa was 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) from the line and shot 57.1 percent from the field behind 38 points in the paint.
UTSA converted 10-of-12 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe and shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the floor, including nine 3-pointers. The Roadrunners tallied 16 fast break points and 27 off 19 Iowa turnovers.
Iowa scored the first bucket of the second half ? a Tate layup just 35 seconds in ? but UTSA cut the deficit to single digits with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes capped by a 3-pointer from the right corner from Johnson. Another Johnson trey with just under 15 minutes to play pulled the Roadrunners to within 44-41.
The Hawkeyes pulled back in front with an 8-2 stretch, but a Joey Shank trey from the corner rattled home to make it 54-52 with 9:40 remaining. Junior Demarco Stepter then converted from the low post to give UTSA its first lead, 54-52, since the first minute of the game.
Shank drained another long-range jumper to give the Roadrunners a 57-54 advantage with 7:49 remaining, but Iowa went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to regain the lead, 62-57.
Junior Morris Smith IV had the hot hand early for the Roadrunners, as he drained his first two 3-point attempts to help UTSA get out to an 8-7 lead through the first 3:22. The Hawkeyes reeled off 10 unanswered points over the next 2:30 to build a nine-point advantage, but the Roadrunners would pull back to within 17-13 with 11:45 to play in the half.
A steal and layup by junior Terry Fields at the 3:44 mark made it 29-25 in favor of Iowa, but the Hawkeyes, who shot 65.2 percent in the half, closed the first on an 11-3 run for a 40-28 lead at the break.
UTSA returns home to host East Central (Okla.) University this Saturday, Nov. 22. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
Texas Tech 87, Sam Houston State 76
LUBBOCK, Texas ? Texas Tech used a strong second half to hand the Sam Houston State men’s basketball team its first loss of the season with an 87-76 defeat in Lubbock on Monday night.
The Red Raiders did their damage from 3-point range in the second half and the Bearkats didn’t have an answer. Texas Tech hit five 3-pointers, including three consecutive at one point in the second half and built a 10-point advantage into a 19-point lead.
After trailing by 10, 40-30 at the half and early in the second half, Sam Houston cut the lead to just five. But during the next eight minutes, the Red Raiders quickly pulled away, building a 24-point lead.
The Kats were able to cut back into the lead, getting it down to 11, but they never got any closer.
The Kats turned the ball over 18 times in the game and shot 44 percent from the floor.
Corey Almond, who led the Kats with 24 points in the season opener on Friday, got off to a hot start Monday, connecting on three shots from long range and scoring 13 points in the opening 20 minutes. Almond finished the night with 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers.
Lance Pevehouse scored 12 for the Kats, hitting 3-of-4 from outside and DeLuis Ramirez recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bearkats will be back in action Thursday at home against North Texas at 7 p.m.