Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's nearly erased a 14-point second-half deficit, but the Hilltoppers fell short and Rogers State held on for a 91-88 victory Saturday at the RCC. The Hillcats' Saint Hilaire scored 26 points grabbed eight rebounds and dished five assists to aid RSU's (12-5, 3-2) road victory in Heartland Conference play.

After trailing by as many as 14, down 13 with 5:43 remaining SEU (13-5, 3-3) scored 12-unanswered points in a 2:27 span to cut the lead to one point at 82-81 with 3:16 remaining. However, in the final 2:52, RSU hit 9-of-12 free throws as SEU tried to complete the comeback, and SEAN WATKINS' half-court shot at the buzzer banked off the glass, off the rim and out avoiding overtime.

RSU shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the game and held SEU to just a 37.9 percent performance. The Hilltoppers stayed in the game by shooting 32-of-37 from the free-throw line, highlighted by LANDON GOESLING's 12-for-13 effort at the charity stripe. Goesling led all scorers with 29 points and DORIAN LOPEZ posted his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 10 boards.


HIGHLIGHTS
• DORIAN LOPEZ scored the 500th point of his career with his eighth of 23 Saturday vs. RSU.
• Lopez's double-digit effort in scoring was the 30th of his career (16th this season).
• Lopez grabbed 10 boards to give him eight games this season with 10 or more (11 in career).
• Lopez's double-double was his second consecutive and eighth this season.
• LANDON GOESLING scored 29 points on 8-of-20 shooting. He's surpassed 20 points 11 times this season, and has been in double figures in 17 of 18 contests (25 times in his career).
• Goesling, the nation's leader in free throws made, hit 12-of-13 from the stripe and is one shy (144) of tying for the 10th-most made free throws by an SEU player in a single season through 19 games.
• SEAN WATKINS had 14 points, six assists, three steals and zero turnovers. The past two games combined, he has 16 assists and zero turnovers.
• Watkins' 14 points marked the 10th time this season he's reached double-digits (26 times in his career).
• Cory Shervill scored in double figures for the fifth time this season with 12 points.
• LUCAS DORIA's four rebounds gave him an even 100 for his career.

NOTES
• SEU head coach Andre Cook is one win away from career victory No. 250.
• SEAN WATKINS started the 50th game of his career Saturday vs. RSU.
• RSU leads the all-time series 5-3 and evened its record in Austin at 2-2.

STAT OF THE GAME I
6 – Despite the loss, SEU turned the ball over a season-low six times, and the Hilltoppers have posted three consecutive games with single-digit turnovers.

THEY SAID IT
SEU head coach Andre Cook on SEU's comeback attempt …
"They competed. SEAN WATKINS' half-court shot almost went in. We would still be playing out there. They battled, they competed, and gave themselves a chance. It wasn't an ideal game today, but they worked hard and they didn't give up and there's a lot of positives in that."

Cook on responding to RSU's early energy …
"There are some factors that go into it. Obviously, Thursday [was] an emotional win over Fort Smith [UAFS]. I was worried about that. I was worried about that as soon as I walked up to my office Thursday after that win. How are we going to recreate this against a tough, tough Rogers team that played Wednesday, even though they were traveling. So, we had to come back in 48 hours and figure it out. I was worried that all the emotional investment with such young kids. You know, 10 freshmen and sophomores. How are we going to back bounce from that, and there were some lulls in there. I feel like we didn't get it until about 6, 7, 8 minutes left in the game.

Cook on responding as the next three games are on the road …
"We have to. It's Lubbock Christian and we've never won there. They're really well coached and that is going to be a tough game, but one thing they have done is bounce back after every loss and given great effort, so I expect that to be the case in Lubbock."

WHAT'S NEXT
SEU resumes Heartland Conference play on the road Thursday at Lubbock Christian at 7:30 p.m.