Men's Basketball Falls Short In 73-69 Loss To Houston Baptist

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NEW ORLEANS – While Groundhog Day is not for another couple of weeks, the University of New Orleans men's basketball team may feel like it is living the life of Phil Connors from the movie named for the holiday as the Privateers dropped a close contest to Houston Baptist, 73-69, on Saturday evening in Lakefront Arena.

UNO held 63-60 lead with 3:05 to play only to see the Huskies end the contest with a 13-6 run to come away with the victory. The loss was the Privateers third in a row by four-points or less as New Orleans fell to 5-10 on the year and 1-3 in Southland action. Houston Baptist, meanwhile, won its sixth-straight contest to improve to 10-7 overall and remain perfect in league play at 5-0.

"We can cut it up a bunch of ways but in the end, we have to make shots," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We cannot shoot foul shots at that rate and think that we're going to win. We cannot shoot from the floor at that percentage and think that we're going to win. I think we're guarding at a very good rate, but we're getting to a point where we have to pitch a perfect game defensively when we're shooting at this low of a rate right now.

"We've got to find a rhythm offensively, get some shot-makers going and make foul shots when we get to the line. We did a good job of getting there in the second half but we've got to continue to finish that out."

The Privateers bounced back from a 10-for-35 shooting performance in the first half (.286) to connect at a .452 clip after halftime (14-of-31) to finish with a 36.4 field goal percentage. Houston Baptist hit 41.5 from the field (22-of-53) and was just 3-of-16 from beyond the 3-point arc (.118). The difference in the game came at the free throw line where the Huskies hit 26-of-33 attempts (.788) while UNO was 18-of-32 (.563).

Junior guard Christavious Gill led three Privateers in double figures offensively with 15 points while junior forward Erik Thomas and freshman guard Cameron Reed had 10 apiece. Sophomore wing Michael Zeno led UNO in rebounding with a career-high 11 boards and shared team-high steals honors with Gill at two each. Sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux, who came off the bench to score six points and pull down five rebounds, led the squad with three assists. Thibodeaux, Reed, Thomas and Zeno each had one blocked shot.

"We've got to make some shots," Slessinger said. "We can't keep shooting this low of a percentage. I think it's going to happen and we have to guard at a much higher rate to get the stops that we need."

The two teams traded the first 18 points of the contest and Houston Baptist held leads of 16-12 with 10:22 to play in the first half and 20-15 just over two and a half minutes later. UNO rallied to tie the game at 24-all, and after falling behind by a pair at 28-26 with 1:41 to go before the break, got a free throw by Reed and a thunderous dunk by Thomas to go into the locker room on top, 29-28.

The Huskies appeared to take control of the contest with a 16-8 run over the first 4:28 of the second half to take a seven-point lead before the Privateers answered with an 8-0 to take a 45-44 lead with 11:47 left to play in regulation. UNO's second-half lead swelled to as many as four at 52-48 with 8:54 on the clock and the team was up three-point lead with just over three minutes to go. From there, however, Houston Baptist mixed in a Caleb Crayton free throw among a 3-pointer, a layup and three free throws by Reveal Chukwujekwu to go up 67-63 with 1:30 left.

UNO got the deficit down to one as Gill followed with a layup plus an and-one free throw, but could get no closer. Josh Ibarra and Chukwujekwu combined for four free throws to make it a five-point affair, and following a Gill 3-pointer, Anthony Odunsi nailed a pair of freebies with 4.7 seconds to go to account for the final score.

Odunsi led Houston Baptist with 28 points and the bulk of his production came over the final 20 minutes as he connected on 6-of-6 field goals – including a 3-pointer – and sank 12-of-13 free throws to go for 25 in the second half. Chukwujekwu was next for the Huskies offensively with 14 points while Colter Lasher added 10. Ibarra pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to go with eight points and a steal. Jourdan Sticker had three of HBU's seven assists. Odunsi paced the defense with a pair of steals and the duo of Lasher and Alex Fountain shared game-high block honors with two each.

"Obviously, Odunsi got going," Slessinger added. "We did a great job in the first half of keeping him out of rhythm, keeping the ball out of his hands and limiting his touches. Then he goes off in the second half and the majority of that was from the foul line. We knew what he was going to do. We knew that that was his game. We knew that we had to keep him from that and we didn't."

UNO returns to action on Monday, Jan. 18, when the Privateers play host to SLC foe Stephen F. Austin at 8:05 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. That game will be televised live on the American Sports Network and a free audio stream is available on-line via the UNO Showcase. 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).