Box Score UNO-DSU Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans built up an 18-point lead in the game's first 13 minutes and led wire-to-wire in an 81-59 win against Delta State at Lakefront Arena on Monday night.
Brandon Canady made back-to-back three-pointers to get UNO (11-9) ahead 10-1 before three minutes had passed in the contest. Canady scored a career-high 13 points in the game and came one shy of his previous high during the first half alone with 11 points.
The vocal student crowd provided an assist throughout the contest and troubled a DSU (4-11) squad that did not connect from the field until 16:15 remained in the opening half.
“Before anything else, I have to applaud the UNO students, staff and the student leaders – the Orientation leaders, the Student Government and the other student groups in attendance,” said UNO head coach
Mark Slessinger. ”It enabled us to have a lot of momentum, it created a great college atmosphere and it was great to have them back on campus in the friendly confines of Lakefront Arena.”
The momentum remained in the Privateers' favor for the entire 20 minutes prior to the break. When Canady added his third three-pointer of the half, UNO's lead grew to 14 at 21-7 with 12:40 to go.
The hot hand for the remainder of the opening half was
Antonio Holmes, who connected on all three of his attempts from long-range. The last three-pointer by Holmes put the Privateers ahead 30-12 with 7:49 remaining before the half.
For the first half, UNO shot 47.1 percent from the field and carried a 40-27 edge into the break.
The Privateers forced 12 DSU turnovers before the half and took 16 more shots due to the Statesmen miscues. The UNO reserves contributed 13 points in the first half.
“We got contributions across the board from a lot of people,” said Slessinger. “We got in foul trouble early in the first half, but we had guys come in and never blinked an eye and made great contributions.”
With
Lovell Cook scoring 12 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, the Privateers were able to produce a 64.3 percent clip from the field over the game's final 20 minutes.
DSU closed within 10 points on two separate occasions and would not be able to get much closer.
“
Lenny Harmon was able to come in and get three key rebounds for us in that stretch we were able to hold the lead,” said Slessinger.
In addition to Harmon's rebounds,
Darrell Williams connected on consecutive three-pointers to kick off a 10-0 spurt to break open a 59-49 game.
The Privateers' lead grew to a high of 22 points with 1:21 to go on a
Brandon Knight lay-up and equaled once more on a Cook lay-up with seven seconds to go.
“We were very unselfish, especially in the second half,” said Slessinger. “We got some key stops in the second half when they made their runs at us.”
“I was really proud of how we managed the game and clock down the stretch in the game's final minutes.”
DSU was led in scoring by Arthur Jackson and Terry Leake with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
UNO will return to Lakefront Arena on Thursday night at 7 p.m. to face Southern-New Orleans. The game is the second half of a doubleheader with the Lady Privateers, who will tip off against SUNO at 4:30 p.m.
