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The Southeastern Louisiana University men’s basketball team puts its five-game winning streak on the line when they face UNO Thursday at 7 p.m. in Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana and Nicholls Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Stopher Gym in Thibodaux.

The Lions (9-9) are coming off a pair of home wins last week over Tougaloo College and Northwestern State in the Southland opener. Jalyn Hinton and Roscoe Eastmond led SLU in the win over Tougaloo as the two scored 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Gus Okafor’s heroics in the final minutes against Northwestern stamped the Lions’ victory Saturday. The junior scored 11 straight points during SLU’s game-ending 11-3 run for a 79-74 win.

Okafor also leads the Lions in scoring for the season averaging 14.1 points per game. The Baltimore, Maryland native has four double-doubles to his credit, including 13 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s win over Nicholls.

Hinton, a Boston, Massachusetts native, has been a model of consistency for the Lions. The graduate transfer is averaging 12.5 points per game scoring in double figures in 14 of the 17 games he’s played in. Hinton’s 35 blocked shots is second in the Southland while his 7.4 per game is fourth in the league.

During the current five-game winning streak, SLU is averaging just 11.8 turnovers per game while shooting 75 percent (73-for-98) at the free throw line.

The Privateers (8-8, 1-0 Southland) come into Thursday’s showdown with the Lions winners of four in a row. UNO defeated Dillard and Nicholls, the Southland preseason favorite, at home last week after back-to-back wins in the Southland Tip-Off tournament over Northwestern state and Houston Baptist.

UNO is led by reigning Southland Player of the Week Troy Green. The preseason first team All-Southland selection scored 20 points in the win over Dillard and 26 in Saturday’s victory over Nicholls.

The Privateers and Lions met last year in the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament with UNO winning, 80-63. SLU got 22 points from Keon Clergeot but trailed by 16 points at halftime and never recovered.

Thursday is the 26th all-time meeting between the two schools with UNO holding a 17-8 advantage. However, the teams have split the last 10 games.

Saturday at 3 p.m., SLU will travel to Thibodaux for a matchup with Nicholls (10-8, 0-1 Southland). The Colonels are led by the Southland’s leading scorer Ty Gordon (20.4 ppg).

The two teams met back on Jan. 8 with Southeastern defeating Nicholls, 77-72, in the Southland Tip-Off title game. The Lions built a 12-point first half lead and led, 68-57 with 2:47 to go on their way to the win. Ryan Burkhardt led SLU with 20 points while Clergeot, Okafor and Hinton scored 19, 15 and 14 respectively.

Fans can watch the live broadcast of both Wednesday and Saturday’s games on ESPN+. The audio play-by-play of both contests will be available at LionSports.Net/ListenLive. Links to live stats will also be available at the Southeastern men’s basketball schedule page at LionSports.Net.

HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB

Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the basketball program are encouraged to join the Hardwood Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners.  All membership fees and donations to Hardwood Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern basketball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Basketball, follow @LionUpMBB and @DavidKieferSLU on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

TICKETS

For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.

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