Box Score DENVER - Denver took the lead early in the contest against New Orleans
and would not let it slip away as they did in the teams' first meeting
as the Pioneers picked up a 59-49 home win on Saturday night at Magness
Arena.
DU (11-14, 6-8 Sun Belt) saw their home record improve to 10-2 as UNO (10-16, 5-10 SBC) lost for the eighth straight time on the road in SBC play. The defeat was also the Privateers' seventh in their last nine contests.
The Pioneers were led Rob Lewis who scored 20 points. Andrew Hooper scored 11 while Brian Stafford and Nate Rohnert added 10 apiece.
UNO was paced by
Kyndall Dykes, who shared game-high scoring honors with Lewis at 20 points. The senior from New Orleans, La. shot 9 of 14 from the field.
The Privateers would spend the entire second half trying to play catch-up with DU after coming out of the break trailing by 11 points.
UNO did their best to get off to a good start in the half, scoring six straight points and 9 of 11 after the break. Using the run, the Privateers got within four at 32-28 when Burroughs capped the scoring.
After DU extended the lead out to 10, the Privateers put together a 6-0 run as the Pioneers missed four straight attempts from the field to once more get within four points before Rohnert hit a three-pointer to end the run.
Rohnert's three-pointer was the first of three straight for DU, who opened the second half 1 of 7 from beyond the arc. Hooper and Stafford would add three-pointers to the Pioneer tally as the home squad extended their lead into double-figures once more with 7:01 left in the contest.
UNO would whittle the lead down from 11 to four after scoring 8 of 9 points during a stretch in which
Charles Carmouche made all four of his free throw attempts and Dykes made two baskets. The deficit was as close as UNO would get for the remainder of the game as the run would get stopped once more by a three-pointer as Stafford stepped up to drain a trey with 3:07 remaining in the contest.
The first half saw DU use a 7:48 drought from the field for the Privateers to turn a one-point deficit into a Pioneer advantage.
After a
Jahmal Burroughs lay-up with 15:41 gave the Privateers a 6-5 advantage, the team would not score again until 8:38 remained in the opening half when Dykes connected on a long jumper. During the stretch where UNO did not score, the Pioneers put 10 points on the board to take a 15-6 lead.
The Dykes jumper would be the first two points of a 7-3 run that saw the Privateers close within five points at 18-13. The five-point deficit was as close as the team would get for the remainder of the half as DU finished the opening period scoring 12 of the final 18 points.
Next up for UNO is a 7 p.m. home contest against Arkansas State on Thursday night at Lakefront Arena. Prior to the contest, the Privateers will honor the team's two seniors as part of "Senior Day" festivities.
