Privateers' Furious Late Rally Falls Short in Loss at McNeese

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LAKE CHARLES, La. – The New Orleans Privateers men's basketball team (6-11, 2-6) hit a furious rally in the second half, but fell short in a 68-61 loss to the McNeese State Cowboys (8-11, 2-6) on Saturday evening at Burton Coliseum.

Trailing 61-58, the Privateers sent McNeese State's Desharrick Guidry to the line for a 1-and-1 with 31 seconds remaining. Guidry hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to put the Cowboys' lead at five. Back-to-back turnovers by the Privateers helped seal the victory for McNeese State. "The frustrating thing for us is it was too little, too late. We felt like we left one on the table tonight," said Coach Mark Slessinger. 

New Orleans faced a deficit as large as 19, but clamped down defensively and cut the deficit to just six points with 5:00 remaining. The Cowboys got four quick points from Kevin Hardy and put the lead back to double figures, but the Privateers had one more spurt that cut the deficit to three on two separate occasions.

However, the Privateers came right back with five quick points to spurt back within three after Kevin Brown capped an 8-0 run by connecting on three free throws to cut the deficit to 59-56 and set up the final minute of the contest.

The Cowboys got out to an early 10-3 lead by hitting a couple of threes to start the game. New Orleans dug in defensively and slowly chipped that deficit down to one, trailing 16-15 behind a spark from the bench provided by Colton Weisbrod.

McNeese State responded with a 7-1 spurt to extend the lead back to seven. The Privateers could not get the deficit smaller than five for the rest of the opening half and went to the locker room trailing 32-23. The Privateers were just 8-for-28 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The second half saw McNeese State use transition offense to build their lead to 50-31 with 12:19 left. The Privateers chipped away at the advantage, scoring the next seven points while McNeese State went on a scoring drought that lasted over four minutes.

Four Privateers landed in double figures, led by Christavious Gill who had 16. Weisbrod added 12 points and Brown posted 11. Kevin Hill added 10 points for a Privateers squad that shot 46.2 percent from the field in the second half and out-rebounded the Cowboys 41-32 on the night. Terrance Syon had 13 boards to lead the way individually. McNeese State won the turnover battle decisively, committing just nine turnovers to the Privateers' 17. 

McNeese State also had four players in double figures including a team-high 16 from Jamaya Burr. Guidry added 15 points and Keelan Garrett added 13. Also in double figures was Hardy who finished with 10. Hardy also added six assists and six steals on the night.

The Privateers will next head to Thibodaux to face Nicholls on Monday. Tip is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

To keep up with the latest New Orleans men' basketball news, follow the team on Twitter@UNOPrivateers and @@Privateers_MBB or by liking New Orleans Privateers on Facebook.