Men's Hoops Rolls To 3rd Straight Win With 74-53 Victory Over Nicholls

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NEW ORLEANS – Junior guard Christavious Gill led four Privateers in double figures offensively with 17 points and sophomore wing Michael Zeno pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team rolled past Southland Conference foe Nicholls, 74-53, on Monday evening in Lakefront Arena.

After falling behind 6-0 early on and trailing 17-15 with 10:37 to play in the first half, the Privateers ended the stanza with a 24-4 run and never looked back.  The win was the third in a row for UNO, which improved to 8-12 on the year and 4-5 in Southland action. Nicholls, meanwhile, dropped its seventh consecutive contest to fall to 5-18 overall and 1-8 in league play.

"We're excited and I'm excited for the team, most importantly," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "This is a good affirmation of all the hard work they're putting into it and I'm really proud of them. We played unselfishly on offense tonight and only had one or two bad or forced shots that weren't really acceptable. They executed the game plan that the coaches gave them. [Assistant] coach [Jody] Bailey did a great job with the scouting report and the staff did a good job of preparing them tonight for this game. It was good to see them sit down and guard against a tough team to play against defensively."

As a team, New Orleans hit 40.3 percent of its shots from the field (25-of-62), including a .500 clip from beyond the 3-point arc (6-of-12), and connected on 18-of-21 opportunities from the free throw line (.857). A big reason for the lopsided victory came on defense and transition offense as the Privateers forced 30 turnovers and turned those Colonel miscues into 26 points. Facing a team with two seven-foot post players, UNO still managed to outscore Nicholls in the paint, 33-22.

Zeno, junior forward Erik Thomas and junior guard Nate Frye all finished second to Gill with 11 points each and freshman guard Cameron Reed was next with eight, including a pair of 3-pointers. Frye, Reed, senior forward Kevin Hill and sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux shared team-high assist honors with two apiece, and Gill paced the defense with three of the team's 13 steals.

"We had very unselfish play across the board tonight," Slessinger added. "We found guys in the right places. They executed offensively and this is a tough team to score against. To be 86 percent from the foul line tonight was good and it was good for us to get back on track from the foul line. Guys are working hard at it. We just have to keep working to turn the corner on that."

New Orleans held scoreless over the first four-plus minutes of the game, but the Privateers allowed just two baskets and a pair of free throws during that span to keep the game from getting away from them. A pair of free throws by junior guard Tevin Broyles put UNO on the board at the 15:42 mark to spark a 6-0 rally to tie the game, and the two teams traded the next 18 points. With the score deadlocked at 15-all with 11:02 to play in the first half, Nicholls went ahead by a pair courtesy of a Ja'Danté Frye layup but the lead was short lived as UNO answered with 3-pointers by Gill and Reed to take a 21-17 lead it would not relinquish.

Clinging to a four-point advantage four possessions later before turning the tide of the contest. Gill sparked an 11-0 run with a pair of free throws with 4:43 to play before the break, Frye followed with a 3-pointer and a pair of shots from the charity stripe, and Zeno came through with a dunk and a pair of free throws to make it 34-19 with 1:47 on the clock. Nicholls made it a 13-point contest on a pair of Tre O'Neal free throws, but the Privateers closed the half with five unanswered points by Thomas to go into halftime on top 39-21.

The Colonels matched UNO point-for-point early in the second half and got to within 15 at 49-33 with 12:14 remaining in regulation. The Privateers held a 64-48 lead 7:07 later before coming up with 11 of the game's final 16 points to account for the final score.

Kyle Caudill was the lone Nicholls player to tally a double-digit point total, coming off the bench to score 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field while converting 3-of-5 free throws. Fellow seven-footer Liam Thomas was next with seven while Adam Ward led the Colonels with a game-high 10 rebounds. Johnathan Bell had three of Nicholls' seven assists, Ward led the defense with a pair of steals and Thomas – who entered the game with a Southland-best 2.0 blocks per game – swatted a game-high five shots.

UNO returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 6, when the Privateers travel to Conway, Arkansas, to take on Central Arkansas. The game against the Bears marks the start of a tough stretch for New Orleans as six of its next seven games will be road contests with the lone home game being a Feb. 17 showdown against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Tickets to that games and future Privateer sporting events can be purchased by clicking HERE or by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263).