NEW ORLEANS - Senior guard Billy Humphrey scored a career-high 26 points as the University of New Orleans defeated Southern-New Orleans 74-65 on Thursday night at Lakefront Arena.
Humphrey was 7-of-12 from the field and made his first four field goal attempts to help the Privateers (1-1) pick up their first victory of the year.
Ejike Hart had a career-high 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Hart had eight points in the first half, which saw UNO shoot 79 percent from the field.
Ricardo Porter had 17 points for NAIA-member SUNO (2-0), while Xavier Francis chipped in 14. The game was an exhibition contest for the Knights.
UNO shot 63 percent overall, which helped the hosts overcome a tough night on the glass. While SUNO only had a 28-26 rebounding edge, the Knights had 14 offensive rebounds to just three for UNO.
The effort allowed SUNO to have 22 more shots overall, though the Knights shot just 40 percent from the field.
UNO was up 29-24 with five minutes to play in the first half before closing the frame with a 15-6 run.
Humphrey had 14 points and was 4-for-5 from the field in the first half.
"In the first half, we played really unselfish," said Humphrey, who played three seasons at Georgia before transferring to UNO. "We had 12 assists, and we did a nice job. We didn't do as good a job in the second half, but we have a lot of young guys, and it's just going to take a little time."
SUNO outscored the Privateers 35-30 in the second half and cut the margin to as little as five points on three occasions. But UNO made 16 second-half free throws to hold off the upset.
"Rebounding is our Achilles right now," said UNO head coach Joe Pasternack. "We just have to do a better job in practice, and we will. Billy is just an excellent shooter, and he did a great job tonight."
The Privateers will host Texas State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first half of a doubleheader with the women's team.
