Men's Basketball Drops 87-76 Southland Decision At McNeese State

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LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – It was a tale of two halves for the University of New Orleans men's basketball team as the Privateers saw a halftime lead quickly vanish after the break en route to a n 87-76 loss to Southland Conference foe McNeese State on Thursday evening in Burton Coliseum.
 
After connecting on 52.9 percent of its shots (18-of-34) in the opening 20 minutes, UNO hit just 10-of-28 tries in the second half (.357) and were outscored 44-30 in the period. While the Privateers finished the night with a 45.2 field goal percentage (28-of-62), the Cowboys were even better at 49.2 (30-of-61), including a .417 clip from beyond the 3-point arc as the Cowboys sank 10-of-24 tries from downtown. The loss was the second straight for the Privateers, who fall to 8-14 overall and 4-7 in Southland action. McNeese State, meanwhile, snapped a three-game skid to improve to 6-15 on the year and 4-7 in conference play.
 
"They shot it extremely well tonight, hitting 42 percent from the three," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "James Harvey, who we held 0-for-10 at our place, goes 8-for-14 tonight and played really, really inspired basketball. They played good basketball across the board. They were solid.
 
"Our play fluctuated too much and we were too streaky in what we were doing. We forced them into some turnovers in the second half, but gave it right back to them with a turnover ourselves. We didn't capitalize when we had opportunities to make some runs there. It's disappointing to let one slip out of your hands on the road. This is a tough place to play, and always has been, but this is one that we needed."
 
Junior forward Erik Thomas led five New Orleans players in double figures offensively with 17 points while sophomore wing Michael Zeno added 13 and the trio of senior forward Kevin Hill, junior guard Christavious Gill and freshman Cameron Reed had 10 apiece. Hill led the Privateers with seven rebounds and tallied the team's lone blocked shot. Gill had three of UNO's 13 assists and both he and sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux had two steals.
 
The two teams traded the first 14 points of the contest before McNeese State went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-9 lead with 13:19 to play in the opening stanza. The Privateers rallied to take a 24-23 advantage 5:22 later only to see the Cowboys score the next four points on baskets by Stephen Ugochuckwu and Jarren Greenwood. From there, UNO scored 12 of the next 15 points to take a 36-30 lead it would not relinquish the rest of the half.
 
Leading by six at 39-33 with 4:01 to play in the opening stanza, the Privateers went into the break clinging to a 46-43 advantage at the break. The Cowboys' Jamaya Burr buried a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the final frame to tie the game, and following a Thomas layup  to stake the Privateers to a two-point advantage for the moment, but Harvey buried a trey the next time down the court to give the home team the lead for good.
 
Harvey's basket sparked an 11-2 McNeese State rally and the Cowboys' pushed the lead to nine at 61-52 on a pair Burr free throws with 11:59 to play in regulation. UNO got a pair of free throws by Zeno and a three-point play by Thomas to cut the deficit to four but could get no closer the rest of the night.
 
"We just never got a rhythm from an offensive perspective," Slesssinger said. "We just couldn't get steady play going and that's disappointing. We had some good flashes early in the game. Zeno came up with a big game tonight. I was pleased with all of our forwards across the board. Thibodeaux, Erik, Kevin and Mike all played very, very well. They scored the ball efficiently
 
"Our guards struggled to find their rhythm and got locked in to trying to get it into them because they were doing such a good job of scoring. There was a lot left on the table tonight. We had five in double figures, which is good, but we just didn't get enough of it."
 
Harvey led the Cowboys with a game-high 23 points, followed by Burr with 18, Grenwood with 13 and Craig McFerrin with 11. McFerrin fell one rebound shy of a double-double with nine while Burr led all players with four assists and three steals.
 
The Privateers return to action on Monday, Feb. 17, when UNO plays host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. That contest will be "Senior Night" as Travis Avery Kevin Hill will be honored with a special ceremony prior to tipoff. Tickets to that game and future Privateer sporting events can be purchased by clicking HERE or by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263).