HAMMOND – Northwestern State appeared to solve its free throw issues when the Demons shot 76 percent as a team in the three-game Southland Conference Tip-Off event in Katy, Texas, this past week.

But the NSU bugaboo surfaced in the second half of a 79-74 loss at Southeastern on Saturday to officially open SLC play.

The Demons (4-14, 0-1 SLC) made just 6-17 from the charity stripe in the second half and 12-23 overall as NSU scored just five points in the last five minutes of the game. The Demons made all six free-throw attempts in the first half against the Lions, who won the SLC Tip-Off event by beating UNO, McNeese and Nicholls.

"The biggest problem is that for the past three or four games, we had good free-throw shooting," said NSU coach Mike McConathy. "We had our bigs miss some attempts but we also had our guards missing them, too.

"We did some great things tonight, but we have to be better in end-of-game situations. That'll come with more experience, and we'll keep working at it.  We're on the verge of being pretty good, but we keep getting in our own way."

NSU built leads of 10 points with 10 minutes remaining and five points with five minutes remaining, but the Lions (9-9, 1-0 SLC) owned the end of the contest.

A Larry Owens three-point play (including the free throw) handed NSU a 74-73 edge under two minutes, but the Lions scored the final six points of the game as part of a bigger 15-5 run to secure the win.

Owens scored a season-high 21 points on 9-12 shooting to go with eight rebounds as NSU dominated the Lions inside.

Freshman Kendal Coleman logged his seventh straight double double with 12 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.

NSU's four posts (Owens, Coleman, Robert Chougkaz and Zurabi Zhgenti) combined for 39 points and 32 rebounds to contribute to the Demons' plus-18 rebound margin, including 14-5 in offensive rebounds which led to a 17-0 edge in second-chance points.

But SLU's Gus Okafor scored 11 of his 13 points in the final four minutes, including a three-point play to answer Owens and handed SLU the lead for good, 75-74. Okafor had a double double with 10 rebounds.

SLU's Jalyn's Hinton led all scorers with 23 points on 8-11 shooting to lead five Lions in double figures.

Hinton drained 7-9 from the free-throw line as the Lions sunk 20-25 as a team.

NSU senior LaTerrance Reed aided the Demons in building their biggest lead (59-49) as he scored eight points in a 14-3 run. Reed knocked down two 3-pointers in quick succession as he scored 12 points to match his season high on 5-6 shooting.

In the first half, it was the Lions who had the double-digit lead (28-17) thanks to a 15-2 run that included three 3-pointers, two from Matt Strange.

But the Demons slowly climbed their way back with a 12-2 run that sliced SLU's edge to 30-29.

Emareyon McDonald made two 3-pointers and the Demons attacked the paint with the pass and the dribble, netting three layups.

The Demons ended the half on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 40-40 at the half. Eight Demons scored at least four points in the first half.

In total, five Lions reached double figures with Roscoe Eastmond and Joe Kasperzyk had 11 points with Keon Clergeot adding 10.

Saturday marked just the fourth time NSU has played a game within five points this season, and the Demons dropped to 1-3 in those contests.

NSU has played three games in a row within five points, beating UIW despite the Cardinals' late surge and lost late leads to UNO and SLU.

The Demons continue their three-game road swing to start conference play at Nicholls on Thursday and UNO on Saturday. UNO hammered the league-favorite Colonels by 12 points in the opener.