DENVER, Colo. – The New Orleans Privateers men's basketball team (1-3) fell behind by as many as 24 points in the second half and could not rally in a 79-60 loss to the Denver Pioneers (3-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Magness Arena.The Privateers' only lead of the first half came on the first possession when
Kevin Brown made a layup to put New Orleans ahead 2-0. Denver responded with a 9-2 run that set the tone for a hot shooting first half for the Pioneers.
Denver shot 55 percent in the first half and went into the locker room ahead 42-31. In the last seconds of the half, New Orleans split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to nine, but Brett Olson's long distance pass connected for a layup that beat the buzzer.
The second half opened with a 12-4 run in favor of the Pioneers to extend the lead to 17. Denver grew the lead to 24 when they lead 63-39. After that, New Orleans scored 12 of the next 13 points while the Pioneers were held without a field goal for a six-minute stretch.
New Orleans was able to get the deficit cut down to 12 with just over four minutes left, but could not draw any closer. The Pioneers wound up shooting 54.7 percent from the field and made nine three-pointers on the day. New Orleans out-rebounded Denver 36-24 on the contest.
"We had a ton of stops in a row where we just didn't convert at a high enough efficiency rate to get back in it. We've got to get better and we've got to continue to work on the little things," said Coach
Mark Slessinger.
Colton Weisbrod had another strong game off the bench, leading the team with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting while adding five rebounds.
Kevin Hill had a team-high 11 rebounds along with nine points. Brown and
Christavious Gill added 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Pioneers had five players between 11 and 15 points on the game. Brett Olson led all scorers with 15 points and also dished out eight assists in 33 minutes. Cam Griffin added 14 points, but was held to three rebounds after averaging 7.5 boards a game in Denver's first four contests. Denver had 23 assists on 29 made baskets for the game.
New Orleans will return home to face Crowley's Ridge on Dec. 6. Tip is slated for 6:15 p.m.
