Men's Hoops Celebrates 'Senior Day' With 84-61 Win Over Central Arkansas

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NEW ORLEANS – Honored with a pregame ceremony as part of the University of New Orleans men's basketball team's annual 'Senior Day', the four-member class of Tevin Broyles, Nate Frye, Christavious Gill and Erik Thomas did not disappoint as the quartet combined for 55 points, 20 rebounds, 14 assists and four steals in helping the Privateers roll past Southland Conference foe Central Arkansas, 84-61, on Saturday afternoon in Lakefront Arena.

UNO drained a season-high 14 3-pointers, including four by Gill and three by junior guard Jorge Rosa, to keep the Bears at arm's reach for most of the contest. The 3-point total was the highest by a Privateers team since Dec. 17, 2009, when New Orleans had 14 in a 78-76 loss at Troy. The win was the fourth in a row for UNO, which improves to 16-9 overall and 11-3 in SLC action. Central Arkansas, meanwhile, dropped its second straight contest to fall to 8-20 on the year and 7-8 in league play.

"It's crazy," Slessinger said of his team's performance from beyond the arc. "I don't know if we made that many 3-pointers in a week full of practices. We shot the ball like we've never shot it before. They were in rhythm. Most of them were good shots. I didn't feel that any of them were forced. Even a couple of them that may have been borderline, when we go back and look at them on film they're probably pretty good shots. They guys were squared up. They weren't forcing them.

"Christavious got back into a rhythm and hit some late-clock 3s, including a couple of deeps ones, that helped us get going. For the most part offensively, we gave up good for great a lot. We continued to try and make the extra pass and get our teammate a better shot than we had. We pounded the ball inside again and did some great stuff against a tough zone to deal with over the course of the game."

As a team, the Privateers hit 45.0 percent of their shots from the field (27-of-60), including a 13-of-25 showing in the second half (.520), and was even better from 3-point land where UNO connected on half of its 28 3-point tries. Defensively, New Orleans held Central Arkansas, which entered the game averaging 75.1 points and 7.1 3-pointers per game, to a .356 clip (21-of-59) and just five treys – three of which came in the final 10 minutes when the lead had already swelled to 20 points.

The Privateers also outrebounded the Bears, 45-32, turning 17 offensive boards into 16 second-chance points, and had an assist on 19 of its 27 buckets.

"[Central Arkansas] is an extremely talented offensive group," Slessinger said. "They've got three dudes that can really score the ball. I was proud of our group defensively with how they came in very focused. I'm also so proud of our seniors and the incredible contributions the they've made to our program over the last four years. What an absolute blessing they've been to coach.

"We've so lucky to have them and their investment not only in our program as athletes but around campus as students and in our community with how many hours they've given back over their four years. They've not only helped build our program but helped move our city forward."

Thomas posted a double-double with 23 points and a season-best 13 rebounds while also leading all players with five assists and pacing the squad with two steals. Gill and Frye were next offensively with 12 points each while Rosa and Broyles added nine and eight, respectively. Junior forward Travin Thibodeaux shared the team lead in rebounding with Thomas at 13 apiece, and junior forward Makur Puou headlined the defense with a pair of blocked shots.

While UNO never trailed at any point, the two teams traded the first 18 points of the contest to sit deadlocked at 9-all 5:32 into the ballgame. From there, the Privateers rattled off 10 unanswered points – including five by Thibodeaux – and the advantage slipped into single digits for just over four minutes the rest of the way.

Following UNO's big run, it looked for a moment as if the Bears would hang tough as the lead dwindled to six at 21-15 with 9:37 to play in the opening period. The Privateers, however, outscored Central Arkansas 11-2 over the next 3:53 to go up 32-17 and the home team's first-half advantage swelled to as many as 36-20 with 3:20 to play before the break. The Bears responded with 3-pointer by Thatch Unruh and a free throw by Jeff Lowery to make it a 12-point affair, but a Thomas layup with two seconds to go made it 38-24 at the half.

Central Arkansas outscored New Orleans 11-7 over the first six minutes of the second stanza only to see the Privateers rattle off 11 straight points to quiet any talks of a Bears comeback. Comfortably ahead by 26 points at 77-51 with 3:46 to play in regulation, Slessinger began removing his seniors with some rarely-used reserves, but the points kept coming for the Privateers as freshman Bryson Robinson and sophomore Coleman Edwards both it 3-pointers and UNO cruised to a 23-point victory.

"They're growing up," Slessinger said of his team. "They're learning how to finish games. They're learning how to play a lot tougher as a team and how to close things out. They're maturing. They're getting better and developing. I'm really proud of that. We wanted to win the first four minutes and just take it four minutes at a time. Our guys were able to do that. They stayed focused. We'll carry that same approach into the next important minutes, which are our practices coming up. We'll move through one drill and get to the next drill, and just keep trying to plug away a little bit and get better."

Derrek Brooks led Central Arkansas with 14 points and seven rebounds. Unruh and Mathieu Kamba were next offensively with nine points each and Jordan Howard added eight. Lowery and Darraja Parnell shared team-high assist honors with three apiece while both Ethan Lee and Teanner Schmit had a pair of steals. Schmit had two of the team's three blocked shots.

The Privateers return to action on Thursday, Feb. 23, when they play host to four-time defending SLC champion Stephen F. Austin at 7:45 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. The game against the Lumberjacks (15-11, 10-4), who will come to town just one game behind UNO in the conference standings, is the second half of a New Orleans basketball doubleheader as the women's teams from both schools will tip off the day at 5:30 p.m.

For tickets to Privateers' games against Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin, 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.