NEW ORLEANS – The Mardi Gras party has started early on the Lakefront as the New Orleans Privateers (11-8, 4-0 Southland) won their seventh game in a row defeating HBU (6-11, 2-2 Southland) 77-66 at Sharp Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Huskies got out to a 12-5 lead before
Derek St. Hilaire took over. The Atlanta native scored 21 points on perfect shooting from the field (7-of-7, 4-of-4 from three-point range) in the first half to give UNO an eight-point lead at halftime.
A 9-0 HBU run cut the lead to 52-50 with 12:27 to go – HBU had a chance to take the lead or tie the game lead coming out of the 12-minute media time out but reigning Southland Player of the Week Darius Lee missed a runner.
One possession later Khristian Courseault buried a three to give HBU their first lead since early in the first half. Following a
Jahmel Myers swat, a St. Hilaire fast-break layup retook the lead for UNO 57-55 with 8:46 to play in the contest.
Rodney Carson hit a left corner three to extend the Privateer lead to 67-60, but was called for a technical foul, allowing the Huskies to hit a pair of free throws with 3:20 left.
Daniel Sackey then stole a lob pass from Jade Tse and took it coast-to-coast for a layup to give UNO a 69-62 lead with 3:14 to play, a lead they would hold until the final buzzer.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- St. Hilaire finished with 34 points (a career-high) on 10-of-15 shooting, the third 30+ point game of his career, and his fourth 20+ point game in the Privateers last six. He also had four rebounds and three assists.
-
Troy Green finished with 10 points – his 15
th double-figure outing of the season, and eight rebounds. The St. Rose native made all six of his free throw attempts.
- HBU, the worst three-point shooting team in the league entering the game, finished 8-22 (.364) against UNO's top-ranked three-point defenders.
- Both teams combined for 54 personal fouls (25 for UNO, 29 for HBU).
MAKE MORE THAN THEY TAKE
For the sixth straight game against a Div. I opponent the Privateers made more free throws (30) than their opponent shot (26). New Orleans shot 21 free throws from the first half alone – making 17 and finished the game 31-41 (.756) from the charity stripe.
WINNING STREAK CONTINUES
The last time the Privateers won seven in a row was 2010-2011 – the last season under Joe Pasternack. The 4-0 conference start is the best since 2017-2018, and a win on Sunday at McNeese would be the first 5-0 conference start since Tim Floyd's 1992-1993 squad went 18-0 in Sun Belt Conference play.
SLESS CONTINUES TO CLIMB WINS LIST
Mark Slessinger won his 142
nd game at New Orleans – he now trails Ron Greene who won 146 games between 1969-1977 by four games for the most wins all-time by a Privateer men's basketball coach.
NEXT UP
New Orleans travels to Legacy Arena in Lake Charles for a 5 p.m. tipoff on Sunday against McNeese. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU. Fans can listen to the Privateer Sports Network and Jude Young on NASH ICON 106.1 FM with pregame set for 4:45 p.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@UNOPrivateers on Twitter,
@PrivateersMBB on Instagram, like
/PrivateersMBB on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
