It was a low-scoring affair for both teams, but Southeastern Louisiana held the Wildcats to just 54 points and 34 percent shooting from the field, as the Lions marched to a 68-54 victory and their fifth-straight win.

The Lions controlled the tempo for most of the game, as ACU never trailed by less than double digits from the 5:47 mark in the first half on. Southeastern built an early 14-4 lead, before eventually building a 38-24 halftime lead. With all momentum and the home crowd, the Lions pushed that lead to 20 points at 58-38, midway through the second half, and lead grew to its largest at 66-42. However, the Wildcats would outscore SLU 12-2 over the final five minutes to even the second half scoring at 30 a piece, bring the final deficit to 14 at 68-54.

Junior Jaren Lewis and graduate transfer Tevin Foster were the leading scorers for the Wildcats, each finishing with 12 points. For the Lions, it was Jordan Capps with a game-high 22 and Marlain Veal with 16.

Sophomore center Jalone Friday said the way his team played was uncharacteristic.

“Well we learned a lot Saturday more than people might know,” Friday said. “Credit Southeastern, they played a good game and we just absolutely didn’t. I can say we do have a plan we came up with as a team and we are sticking with it. That loss made us a lot closer to each other because we went out there and did something out of the ordinary.”

With the loss, ACU remains in a tie for seventh in the conference at 7-7, but now trails Lamar, who sits in sixth at 9-6, by two games. The Wildcats have lost three of their last four, but will look to get back on track with a two-game homestand which starts with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday.