Men's Basketball Falls To Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 65-57

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NEW ORLEANS – Sophomore wing Michael Zeno scored a team-leading 12 points and sophomore forward Travin Thibodeaux pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds, but it was not enough as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team dropped a 65-57 decision to Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday evening in Lakefront Arena.
 
The Privateers scored four of the first seven points of the game only to see the Islanders respond with an 8-2 run to take an 11-6 lead they would not relinquish. Miscues played a big part in the contest as A&M-Corpus Christi turned 22 New Orleans turnovers into 28 points. In contrast, the Islanders committed just nine turnovers and that led to nine Privateers' points.
 
In defeat, UNO falls to 8-15 on the year and 4-8 in Southland play. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, meanwhile, improves to 19-6 overall and 10-3 in league action.
 
"We really wanted to slow the game down and play it in the 50s and 60s, which I thought we did a good job of," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We had the pace about where we wanted it dialed in with the speed of play. They do a bunch of stuff where they switch and play it back into the zone. We made some adjustments a little later than we may have liked there and our guys got a feel for playing it and attacking it.
 
"The turnovers killed us. We had too many turnovers in the first half where maybe we were overpassing or trying to force it in rather than taking that one more reversal around and getting it where we wanted to. We had cut it to six a couple of times in the second half and instead of getting a great shot attempt, we made a mistake and that was very disappointing."
 
Zeno was one of two New Orleans' players to finish in double figures offensively as junior forward Erik Thomas added 10 points to go with eight rebounds, a pair of assists and a blocked shot. Junior guard Nate Frye paced the Privateers with three assists and the duo of Thibodeaux and junior guard Christavious Gill shared team-high steal honors with two apiece.
 
The Privateers held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to a 39.7 field goal percentage (23-of-58), including an 8-for-27 performance in the second half (.296). New Orleans out-rebounded the Islanders 43-26, but was just 18-of-46 from the field (.391). UNO held a slight 30-28 advantage in points in the paint while turning 14 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points.
 
Zeno sandwiched a pair of baskets around a 3-pointer by A&M-Corpus Christi's Hameed Ali to open the game and a trey by Islanders' guard Brandon Pye gave the visiting squad a 6-4 lead 2:15 into the game that held the rest of the way. The Privateers hung tough for a while and trailed by just three at 21-18 with 11:06 to go before the break only to see the Islanders outscore UNO 15-8 the remainder of the half to make it 36-26.
 
The A&M-Corpus Christi lead swelled to as many as 13 at 44-31 with 15:25 to play in regulation and New Orleans got a 3-pointer by Gill, a pair of Frye free throws and a Thibodeaux layup over the next 1:41 to get the deficit down to six. After trading the next four points, the Privateers could get no closer than half a dozen the rest of the way.
 
Ali led A&M-Corpus Christi with 18 points and Ehab Armin was next with 15. Amin paced the Islanders with six rebounds while Ali handed out a game-high four assists and led all players with four steals.
 
UNO will play its next four games on the road before returning to Lakefront Arena on March 3 to take on Southeastern Louisiana. In between, the Privateers will play at Northwestern State on Feb. 20, at Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 23, at Abilene Christian on Feb. 27 and at Nicholls on Feb. 29. In addition to the home game against SLU, New Orleans will also play Northwestern State in Lakefront Arena on March 5.

Tickets to UNO's remaining home 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).