Balanced Southeastern Louisiana routs Miles

• Advocate news services
• Published: Nov 18, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:57 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

HAMMOND — 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 at 8:15 p.m. Thursday 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, close out the road trip next Tuesday at Big 12 member Texas Tech.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 78, ULM 49: In Starkville, Miss., Barry Stewart had a season-high 17 points, and Dee Bost added 14 points and seven assists, to lead the Bulldogs over the Warhawks.

The Bulldogs (2-0) shot 50 percent from the field in the contest, and were 9 of 21 from behind the arc. The Bulldogs never trailed in the game, and beat the Warhawks (1-1) for the 12th time in the schools’ 14 meetings.

The Warhawks managed only 20-of-69 shooting from the field, and were out rebounded 50-36. Mississippi State’s defense registered 12 blocks on the night, 10 of those coming in the first half.

Kodi Augustus added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Jarvis Varnado chipped in 11 rebounds and a school-record nine first-half blocks.

Jarvis Hill had a game-high 19 points for the Warhawks. Tony Hooper also chipped in 14 points.