Men's Basketball Drops 82-58 SLC Contest To Stephen F. Austin

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NEW ORLEANS – Senior forward Kevin Hill came off the bench to lead the Privateers with 12 points and seven rebounds, but it was not enough as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team dropped an 82-58 decision to three-time defending Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin on Monday evening in Lakefront Arena.

After trailing by as many as 19 in the first half, the Privateers stormed back to make it an eight-point game at 49-41 when the two teams went into the locker room for the break. The Lumberjacks halted any talks of a UNO comeback early in the second half with a 21-7 run over the first 10-plus minutes of the stanza to put the game away. The loss was the fourth in a row for New Orleans, which fell to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Stephen F. Austin, meanwhile, won their fifth-straight contest to improve to 12-5 on the year and remain undefeated in SLC action at 5-0.

"They got off to an incredible start in the first half and we came back with a very, very good run," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We executed on both ends of the floor to make a great run at the end of the first half. We attacked the zone very well in the first half, but in the second half we became unaggressive. We stopped attacking and let them take the shot clock down to where they wanted. That forced us into some bad shots."

For the contest, the Lumberjacks hit 60.0 percent from the field (30-of-50), including an 11-for-18 performance from beyond the 3-point arch (.611). UNO was a solid 11-for-24 from the field in the first half (.458) but just 6-of-24 after halftime (.250) to finish the night with a .354 clip.

Junior forward Erik Thomas was second to Hill for the Privateers offensively with 10 points while junior guards Tevin Broyles and Christavious Gill each had nine. Gill led UNO with five assists and a pair of steals while Thomas and sophomore wing Michael Zeno each had one block.

Stephen F. Austin came out of the gates on fire, hitting 13 of its first 16 shots – including all five of its 3-point attempts – and both of its free throws over the first 11:42 to race out to a commanding 34-18 lead.  A jumper by Thomas Walkup out the Lumberjacks on top, 44-25,with 4:01 to play before halftime and UNO got things going offensively from there. The Privateers whittled the deficit down to 11 with 38 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, and following an SFA turnover, junior guard Nate Frye buried a 3-pointer from the right win to make it an eight-point affair at the half.

Following a free throw by the Lumberjacks' T.J. Holyfield and a layup by Demetrious Floyd to open the second half, the Privateers got to within seven as Thomas banked one off the glass and freshman guard Coleman Edwards sank a jumper with 17:18 to play in regulation to make it 52-45. UNO, however, would hit just one field goal – a dunk by sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux – over the next 12-plus minutes and the Lumberjacks outscored the home team, 23-5, during that span to put the game out of reach.

"To not come out of this [three-game homestand] with multiple wins is very, very disappointing," Slessinger added. "We have to go back and work. Our formula is not different. We're going to go back and work our tails off tomorrow, fix the things that are not in great shape and move on to the next one. It's a marathon. It's an 18-mile marathon and you've got to win that mile. We haven't won any of the last four miles so we'd better figure out how to win that next mile, get back in it and get a win."

Floyd led Stephen F. Austin with a game-high 32 points. He was one of four Lumberjacks to reach double figures offensively as Walkup had 19, Clide Geffard had 12 and Jared Johnson added 10. Geffrard paced SFA with six rebounds, Walkup equaled Gill's effort with five assists and led all players with three steals, and Holyfield had three of the team's three blocked shots.

The Privateers will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 23, when they travel to The Lone Star State to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. in the American Bank Center. From there, UNO will kick off a three-game homestand on Monday, Jan. 25, against Central Arkansas. 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).