Men's Basketball Win Streak Snapped In 71-61 Loss At Stephen F. Austin

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NACOGDOCHES, Texas – In what has been one of the tougher places to play in the Southland Conference over the last half decade, the Privateers were the latest victim of William R. Johnson Coliseum as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team fell to league foe Stephen F. Austin, 71-61, on Saturday evening.

After connecting on at least half of its shots in four of the last five games, UNO posted its lowest field goal percentage since Jan. 5 with a .423 clip (22-of-52) against the Lumberjacks. The loss snapped New Orleans' three-game winning streak and its three-game road winning streak as the Privateers fell to 12-8 overall and 7-2 in SLC action. Stephen F. Austin, meanwhile, won its second straight contest and its 43^rd consecutive conference home contest to improve to 11-10 on the year and 6-3 in league play.

"It was a very bad day for us to have a bad day," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We didn't play to our capabilities. We turned the ball over way too much and didn't execute offensively. The turnovers are what got us. Our assist-to-turnover ratio was bad today. We didn't rebound the ball at a high rate. It's the first time in a while we've been outrebounded on the offensive glass. It was just a total disappointment from where we are and where we should be to not finish this game today and not have a great day."

Both teams had eight steals and 19 turnovers, but 11 of the Privateers' miscues came in the first half and Stephen F. Austin was able to turn those into 15 points. The Lumberjacks held a 39-32 rebounding advantage and used 17 offensive boards to score 14 second-chance points. The Lumberjacks also outscored the Privateers in the paint, 34-28, and used a 25-9 scoring edge off the bench to come out on top.

Senior forward Erik Thomas led New Orleans with a game-high 23 points while senior guard Christavious Gill added 12 and junior forward Travin Thibodeaux finished with 11. Thibodeaux paced the squad with eight rebounds and four steals, and shared team-high assist honors with Gill at three apiece. Thibodeaux and junior swing man Michael Zeno each had a block for the Privateers.

"The better we were in [sticking to our game plan], the better we were defensively," Slessinger said. "We just didn't play well enough. We didn't have a good enough night and didn't do the things we were supposed to do to win."

The Privateers got off to a good start as Thibodeaux drained a jumper for the game's opening points, but the Lumberjacks scored 15 of the contest's next 17 to take a 15-5 lead they would not relinquish. New Orleans got the deficit down to five at 19-14 with 11:18 to play in the opening stanza only to see Stephen F. Austin answer with a 6-0 run to go back up by 11.  UNO kept battling and it remained an 11-point affair at 42-31 when the halftime buzzer sounded.

Thomas sandwiched layups around a bucket by SFA's Ivan Canete to open the second half and Gill followed with a 3-pointer to make it a six-point affair at 44-38 with 17:54 to play in regulation. Both teams turned it over on the ensuing possessions but Canete buried a trey as the shot clock went off the next time down the court to thwart the Privateers' rally. The 3 ball was the first points of a 6-0 run to stretch the lead back to a dozen and the closest UNO could get the rest of the way was in the waning moments when junior guard Jorge Rosa connected from beyond the arc with 12 seconds to go to account for the final score.

"We did a good job of being able to get that thing back down to where it was a two- or three-possession game, but then we gave up that huge 3 and weren't able to make a run back off of it," Slessinger added. "In the end, every time we'd get two or three stops in a row, we weren't converting or we were turning it over and not being able to build a run to get a lead at any point. That's the part that frustrates you so much."

Canete led three Stephen F. Austin players in double figures offensively with 14 points, followed by Isaiah Traylor with 13 and Kevon Harris with 10. Leon Gilmore, III, fell one point and one board shy of a double-double with nine points and game-high nine rebounds, and Dallas Cameron paced the Lumberjacks with four assists. Cameron and Ty Charles shared team-high steal honors with two thefts each, and Harris tallied two of the team's five blocked shots.

The Privateers return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 1, when UNO plays at Abilene Christian before returning home to play host to Nicholls on Saturday, Feb. 4, in Lakefront Arena. For tickets to that game, as well as future New Orleans Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking HERE.