Men's Hoops Improves To 3-0 In Southland With 66-62 Overtime Win At Lamar

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BEAUMONT, Texas – Perhaps it was a game that was simply too exciting to be decided in a mere 40 minutes of play. Maybe this team simply enjoys playing together and wanted a few more minutes on the hardwood. Or it could be that the coaching staff wanted to see its team play an extra period to work on something.
 
Whatever the reason, it was another good night for the Privateers as the University of New Orleans men's basketball team posted a 68-62 overtime win against Southland Conference foe Lamar on Thursday evening in the Montagne Center. The victory was UNO's fourth in a row as the team improved to 8-6 overall and remained perfect in SLC action at 3-0. The Cardinals, meanwhile, saw their winning streak snapped at four to fall to 9-6 on the year and 1-1 in league play.
 
"What an awesome night," UNO head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We showed a ton of grit and a ton of toughness. Stuff didn't go right. We didn't play great, but they kept with it. They didn't freak out. They stayed with what we're trying to do and just kept executing and driving. We got big minutes from different people throughout the night. We drew some huge charges. That was a key. And our coaches did a great job with our scout. We hit free throws, especially when it counted. It was a fun night."
 
With the score tied at 58-all at the end of regulation, Lamar drew first blood in the overtime period on a layup by Josh Nzeakor. A pair of free throws by senior forward Erik Thomas (IDS/Business) tied the game, but the Cardinals answered with a jumper by Joey Frenchwood to go up 62-60 with 3:20 to play. That would be the last time Lamar scored and the Privateers connected on 6-of-8 free throws the rest of the way to account for the final score.
 
Junior forward Travin Thibodeaux (IDS/Pre-Dentistry) led four Privateers in double figures offensively with 14 points while Thomas tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Makur Puou (Political Science) and senior guard Christavious Gill (IDS/Behavioural Studies) rounded out UNO's double-digit scorers with 10 each. Thibodeaux paced the Privateers with five assists and shared the team lead in blocks with Puou at two apiece.
 
"These guys are committed," Slessinger said. "They do everything we've asked of them. Anytime we ask them to give us more effort or a better attitude, they've responded. There's not a lot of pushback. They're really focused on doing something special. They're really focused on doing something that hasn't been done at UNO for 21 years, which is to put a banner up in the most beautiful building in the state."
 
As a team, New Orleans connected on 39.3 percent of its field goals (24-of-61) and 33.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (6-of-18), including an 0-for-5 showing from the field and an 0-for-3 performance from 3-point land in the overtime period, and were outrebounded 39-36.
 
The difference in the game came not only at the free throw line late, but also through a solid defensive effort as the Privateers held the Cardinals to a .380 clip from the field (19-of-50) and a .227 showing from downtown (5-of-22) while keeping Lamar to 19 points below its season average.  The UNO defense forced 17 turnovers, including four via steal and 12 on charges, and turned those Cardinal miscues into 15 points.
 
Neither team could get much going early on as the first points of the contest didn't come until the 16:05 mark on a Thibodeaux layup. Lamar's first basket did not come until two minutes later when a Zjori Bosha 3-pointer made it a 4-3 contest and the two teams settled into a back-and-forth slugfest.
 
The two teams were knotted at 14-all with 7:10 to play before Zeno sparked an 11-1 UNO run with a layup. Thibodeaux, senior Tevin Broyles (IDS/Health Studies) and Puou each followed with a layup of their won, and senior guard Nate Frye (Human Performance & Health Promotions) answered a free throw by Nzeakor with a 3-pointer to stake the Privateers to a 25-15 lead.
 
The advantage quickly vanished, however, as the Cardinals rattled off 10 in a row to tie the game with 1:24 to play in the opening frame. Lamar led 28-26 11 seconds later and Puou converted a put-back layup as the horn sounded to send the teams into the locker room deadlocked at 28-all.
 
It was more of the same in the second half as UNO led for all but 2:56 of the second half and the Privateers largest advantage was six on two occasions midway through the stanza. Up 48-42 with 9:08 to go, New Orleans saw the Cardinals go on a 14-6 rally over the next 7:49 to go ahead 56-54. The Privateers cut the deficit in half on a Thomas free throw with 1:12 to go and, following a 1-of-2 showing by Nzeakor at the 42-second mark, Gill nailed a 3-pointer with 28 seconds to go to stake UNO to a 58-57 lead.
 
Former Privateer Colton Weisbrod had a chance to give the home team the lead with 14 seconds remaining, but hit just 1-of-2 free throws and a Gill jumper in the waning second was off the mark to send the game to overtime.
 
After falling behind 62-60, UNO held Lamar to an 0-for-3 showing from field and forced a pair of turnovers during the final three-plus minutes. Thibodeaux hit 3-of-4 free throws to give UNO the lead for good at 63-62 with 1:30 to go, senior guard Tevin Broyles added another, and Thomas put the game away with a pair of free throws with three seconds on the clock.
 
"We may not have played pretty, but we played smart down the stretch," Slessinger added. "We didn't force it or do dumb stuff. We made ourselves go late into the shot clock a lot. We thought that gave us the best opportunity to try and get the best shot. They wanted to play an up-tempo game. We wanted to pace to be slow.
 
"We played 45 minutes and both teams were in the 60s. That went to our favor. We wanted to grind it out, make it a really ugly game and really slow it down. Our guys followed the game plan to a tee."
 
Nick Garth led Lamar with 13 points while Weisbrod and Nzeakor followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Bosha paced the Cardinals with a game-high 11 rebounds and three steals. Nzeakor headlined the defense with two blocked shots and Tory Noel came off the bench to pace the squad with three assists.
 
The Privateers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 7, when they play at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. UNO's next home game is slated for Jan. 12 when it plays host to Sam Houston State in Lakefront Arena. For tickets to that game, 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.