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NEW ORLEANS – Junior guard Christavious Gill led three Privateers in double figures with a career-high 28 points as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team overcame a slow start to defeat Williams Baptist, 83-66, on Saturday evening in Lakefront Arena.
 
The Eagles scored the first five points of the game and held a 25-16 advantage with 8:18 to play in the first half. UNO answered with a 15-2 run the rest of the half to go into the break with a 31-27 lead and never trailed again. Williams Baptist cut the Privateer advantage to a pair with a bucket on the opening possession of the second stanza, but the Privateers carried over its late first-half run with a 16-3 run over the next 6:17 to take control of the contest.
 
"We went through a stretch there at the end of the first half where we held them to two points in the last eight-plus minutes," head coach Mark Slessinger said. "That gave us some great momentum going into the second half and we were able to build on that. We weren't extremely efficient offensively but we guarded them pretty well and did a good job with that. We still left a lot of points on the table that we didn't finish. All we can do is keep grinding and keep working at it as hard as we can to try and get better and try to make strides."
 
As a team, the Privateers hit 51.7 percent from the field (30-of-58), including a .545 clip in the second half (18-of-33), while holding the Eagles to a .394 clip (26-of-66). UNO held a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint and had 11 fast-break points to Williams Baptists' two.
 
Gill finished 10-of-16 from the field, including a 5-of-8 showing from beyond the 3-point arc to lead all players offensively. He also finished the game with three assists, two rebounds and a steal. Junior forward Erik Thomas was next for the Privateers in scoring with 16 after converting 7-of-10 field goals and 2-of-3 free throws while junior point guard Nate Frye added 13 after sinking all four of his shots from the field – including a 3-pointer – and going 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.
 
Frye paced UNO with four assists and three steals while sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux led the Privateers with nine rebounds. Thomas, freshman guard Cameron Reed and sophomore wing Michael Zeno share team-high block honors with one apiece.
 
"Christavious was solid tonight in so many areas," Slessinger added. "He really played a complete game. He had a really solid week of practice and training leading up to tonight so I am not surprised by his performance. We had some really positive contributions from some guys like Matthew Jiles who gave us a real spark and great team play. We knew that [Frye] would accept that challenge well and he really did a good job. It was fun to see him come back and do well out of that. All in all, it was a good team win. It's exciting to see where this goes."
 
After trading the first 24 points of the game, the Privateers hit a tough stretch as a 12-12 tie 6:49 into the game turned into a nine-point deficit 4:53.  During that stretch, New Orleans was just 1-of-5 from the field with a pair of free throws while committing five turnovers.
 
Frye got the comeback under way with a layup and a free throw, and after a pair of free throws by Williams Baptist's Tony Jeffries, the UNO got consecutive layups by Gill and Thomas, a dunk by Thibodaux and another layup by Thomas to tie the contest a 27-all. The home team took the lead for good on a free throw by Thibodeaux with 2:56 to play in the first half and junior guard Tevin Broyles capped the frame with a 3-pointer to stake the Privateers to a four-point lead.
 
Jeffries scored the first basket of the second half to make it a 31-29 contest before UNO scored 11 of the next 14 points to claim a 44-32 lead with 14:43 left to play. The Privateers appeared to be on good footing with a 55-39 advantage at the 10:18 mark only to see the Eagles soar back into the thick of things with a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to six. UNO responded with an 11-4 run over the next 2:41 and the Privateers' edge never dipped below double figures the rest of the way.
 
"Josh Austin is a great coach," Slessinger said of the director of Williams Baptist's program. "He's a guy I've known for a long time. He can coach his tail off. He's really, really good. We talked about that after the Pensacola Christian game. These guys that we're playing, they've got Xs and Os. They can coach. There were a lot of things tonight that were good for us. It helped us work to get better."
 
Jeffries led Williams Baptist with 19 points and nine rebounds to go with a pair of steals and an assist. Stanley Malcom was next for the Eagles with 15 points and posted game-high totals of eight assists and five steals.
 
UNO returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 16, when they travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, to take on UMass before playing at Louisiana-Lafayette on Monday, Dec. 21. From there, the Privateers will play their final non-conference contest on Tuesday, Dec. 29 against Blue Mountain College in Lakefront Arena. Tipoff for that game is slated for 5:30 p.m.
 
Tickets to that contest and future Privateer sporting events can be purchased by clicking HERE or by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263).