Men's Basketball Pulls Away Late To Down Williams Baptist, 91-74

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NEW ORLEANS – It may have taken a little longer than expected and caused a little excess stress along the way, but the University of New Orleans men's basketball team pulled away late to defeat Williams Baptist, 91-74, in the Privateers final non-conference game of the 2016-17 season on Wednesday evening in Lakefront Arena.
 
With the score knotted at 54-all at the 13:36 mark of the second half, UNO used a 7-0 run to spark a 14-2 rally and never looked back. The win snapped a three-game skid as the Privateers improve to 5-6 overall and 4-1 at home. Williams Baptist, meanwhile, saw its winning streak snapped at two to fall to 6-6.
 
"It wasn't our prettiest game, to say the least," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We threw the ball all over the place and really didn't take care of it. When we finally got down to executing and playing solid basketball, we took care of the ball and ended up shooting a pretty high percentage for the game.
 
"We should have played better, but we got a win. We'll take it and move forward. Non-conference is over and our focus moves to Abilene Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on the 29^th and the 31^st."
 
Senior forward Erik Thomas (IDS/Business) led four Privateers in double figures offensively with 21 points while junior guard Jorge Rosa (IDS/Behavioral Studies) tallied 16, senior guard Nate Frye (Human Performance & Health Promotions) scored 14 and junior forward Travin Thibodeaux (IDS/Pre-Dentistry) added 11. Thibodeaux pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to complete a double-double to go with four assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Senior guard Tevin Broyles (IDS/Health Studies) led the way in assists with seven and Rosa headlined the defense with three thefts.
 
As a team, New Orleans connected at a .563 clip from the field (36-of-64), a .583 mark from beyond the 3-point arc (7-of-12) and .923 from the free throw line (12-of-13). Defensively, UNO allowed Williams Baptist to hit 18-of-31 shots in the first half (.581), but held the Eagles to a 10-of-26 showing after halftime (.385).
 
The Privateers held a 39-23 rebounding advantage, turned 10 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points, and outscored WBC in the paint 54-34. Turnover plagued both team for most of the ballgame and while the final tally was 22 each way, UNO had just two over the last 13-plus minutes to help outscore the Eagles 37-20 during that time.
 
"We just weren't sharp and there's no excuse for it," Slessinger said. "The thing didn't have spikes on it. It's round and it's smooth. Hold onto it and play. It was frustrating that we didn't play better and weren't sharper from an execution standpoint."
 
Williams Baptist scored the first four points of the game and led by as many as six at 14-8 just under five minutes into the contest. New Orleans followed with a 15-7 run over the next 4:19 to take a 23-21 lead, and following a basket by the Eagles' Abel Yekeh to tie things up momentarily, the Privateers scored 14 of the next 16 points to go up by 12. UNO appeared to be in control of the ballgame and led 43-34 with 2:31 to play in the opening stanza, but Williams Baptist ended the half with a 10-0 run to make it a one-point contest at the break.
 
New Orleans scored the first five points of the second half to go ahead 48-42 at the 18:37 mark, only to see the Eagles scream right back with a 12-6 rally over the next 5:01 to tie things up at 54-all. From there, UNO got two free throws from both Frye and Rosa and Frye hit layups on each of the next two Privateer possessions to take the lead for good. The streak was halted momentarily when Andre Black hit 1-of-2 free throws for Williams Baptist, but the New Orleans answered with a 3-pointer by junior guard Matthew Jiles (Secondary Education) and a pair of free throws by freshman forward A.J. Cheeseman (Human Performance & Health Promotion) to go ahead 67-55 at the 9:51 mark.
 
The Eagles got to within eight at 67-59 with 9:18 left to play but could not get any closer. UNO continued to stretch the lead as the game progressed and went ahead by as many as 22 at 91-69 with 1:47 to play. During that 7:31 span, the Privateers hit 10-of-14 field goals – including a 3-pointer by senior guard Christavious Gill (IDS/Behavioral Studies) – and both of its free-throw opportunities to blow the game open.
 
"Jorge came in and really gave us some good minutes," Slessinger added. "He was very solid. He made some big improvements defensively. He's been working on watching film and doing a lot of things. Offensively, he made some steps forward and did some good things there. I'm really proud of Matthew Jiles. Jiles came in and gave us a needed spark defensively and offensively with good energy. I'm proud of how Matthew came in and gave us some good leadership."
 
E.J. Rucker led three Williams Baptist players in double figures with 15 points while Allen Buchanan and Black followed with 13 and 11, respectively. Rucker also paced the Eagles with five rebounds and shared the lead in both steals with Marquez Chew at 3 each and in assists with Chew and Demoine Brown at three apiece.
 
The contest against Williams Baptist was the first of a three-game homestand as UNO will open Southland Conference action on Dec. 29 against Abilene Christian before squaring off against league foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 31. For tickets those games, as well as future Privateer Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking HERE.