Men's Basketball Drops Southland Slugfest At Sam Houston, 73-70

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HUNTSVILLE, Texas – It was a sporting event that more resembled a prize fight than a college basketball game, and when the final horn sounded the University of New Orleans men's basketball team responded admirably to more than its share of haymakers only to end up on the wrong end of a 73-70 Southland Conference decision at Sam Houston State on Saturday evening in Johnson Coliseum.

The Privateers trailed 70-68 with 1:30 to play and tied things up on a pair of free throws by junior guard Tevin Broyles 24 seconds later. From there, the Bearkats got single free throws by Javonté Spivey and Dakarai Henderson to go up 72-70, and made it a three-point contest when Jamal Williams hit one-of-two free throws with 6.7 seconds to go. UNO had a chance to tie the score and actually saw a 3-pointer by junior guard Christavious Gill swish the net with just over a second to go. A timeout had been called prior to the shot, however, and UNO's second chance fell off the mark.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for UNO, which fell to 5-8 on the year and 1-1 in Southland Conference action. Sam Houston, meanwhile, won its third consecutive contest as the Bearkats evened their overall record at 8-8 and remained perfect in conference play at 3-0.

"Our play was if we could get an advantage off the press breaker, we were going to take advantage of it," head coach Mark Slessinger said of UNO's final possession. "We didn't get that and wanted to get a timeout inside of halfcourt to get a sideline, inbounds play. I thought we had a little bit more time on the clock, but the officials didn't see it that way. They gave us the timeout prior to the shot going off. It was a great shot by Christavious and we weren't able to get it the second time."

As a team, the Privateers shot 35.8 percent from the field (19-of-53), including a .400 clip in the second half (10-of-25). UNO turned 12 Bearkat turnovers into a dozen points and had a pair of fast-break baskets. Sam Houston State held a slight 39-37 rebounding advantage and both teams had nine offensive boards. The game featured a combined 61 personal fouls, 72 free throw attempts and 56 free throws made. UNO was 27-of-35 from the charity stripe (.771) while Sam Houston went 29-of-37 when toeing the line (.784).

Junior point guard Nate Frye led three UNO student-athletes with double-digit point totals with 14 while Broyles and Gill had 13 and 10, respectively. Sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux pulled down a team-best eight rebounds, Frye and Gill shared team-high assists honors with five apiece and Hill recorded two of the team's five blocked shots.

"We're getting better," Slessinger said. "We had some guys step up tonight and play some very good ball who haven't been performing at that level in a while. That was very exciting to see. It was good to see us shoot the ball very well from the foul line. There were two or three times where I thought we had a chance to string together a run and we just couldn't. Whether we couldn't get a stop, they got to the foul line or we had an untimely turnover, we blew some opportunities to stretch the lead. That's part we've got to get better at moving forward."

It was a game of runs early on as the Privateers opened the game with an 8-2 rally before the Bearkats stormed back with a 12-0 run over the next 2:59 to take a six-point advantage. Sam Houston's lead remained a half dozen at 22-16 at the midpoint of the first half and UNO used a 9-2 run to go up 25-24. The two teams traded the next eight points and Sam Houston used a 6-0 run to go ahead by five at 34-29 with 2:41 to go before the break. The Privateers scored the final four points of the period to make a two-point affair at the half.

Frye opened the second half with a layup to tie the game at 34-34, but Sam Houston State came out of the locker room on fire as the Bearkats hits five of their first eight shots with a 3-pointer and an and-one free throw to race out to their biggest lead of the game at 46-38 with 15:52 to play. UNO followed with an 8-0 run over the next 2:50 to tie the contest and neither team led by more than three the rest of the way.

The 46-all deadlock was the seventh of 16 tie situations for the game and the lead changed hands a total of 19 times before it was all said and done. The Privateers were up 65-62 with 3:24 to play only to see Sam Houston rally to tie the game at 66-66 at the 2:39 mark. Frye and Spivey traded free throws the teams' next possessions to set up the wild finish.

"It was a great battle and we knew it would be," Slessinger added. "We talked about it several times in the preparation leading up to this game, but it's always a battle when these two teams get together. It's always the same, it's very physical. It's two hard-charging teams that play very good basketball and it's very entertaining basketball. Our team played well, but unfortunately we came up one or two possessions short tonight."

Henderson led Sam Houston State with a game-high 18 points and Albert Almanza was next with 11. Williams fell one point shy of a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points, and led all players with eight assists.
 
UNO returns to action on Monday, Jan. 11, when the Privateers play host to Southland foe Incarnate Word at 7 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. 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).

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