NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans (2-11, 0-2 Southland) hung around early but couldn't withstand a late first-half charge from the Vanderbilt Commodores (12-1, 0-0 SEC), falling 100-56 on Monday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.
James White buried a three-pointer, and then a pair of free throws, keeping UNO within three with 16 minutes to play in the first half. Vanderbilt went on a 9-0 run over the next 1:25, which left the Privateers down 21-9 and forced a timeout by Coach
Stacy Hollowell with 14:37 left in the opening period.
Trailing 26-19, a layup and two free throws from White cut the Commodores' lead to seven (26-19) with eight and a half minutes to play in the half. With New Orleans trailing by 10 points, the Commodores ended the first half on a 17-4 run over the final 4:37 to take a 51-28 lead at halftime.
With the game well in hand for the Commodores in the second half, Hollowell gave extended minutes to several Privateer reserves.
Grant Kemp set a new career-high with 20 minutes of action, while
Leland Coleman's nine minutes were his most on the floor since the Stonehill game on Nov. 15.
Once again, the Privateers were led by White in scoring with 18 points. The senior was the only Privateer in double figures — a feat he has accomplished in 12 of UNO's 13 games this season.
Theo Grant had a second strong outing in a row, scoring nine points with a career-high six rebounds.
MJ Thomas finished with eight points and four rebounds. Senior Turk Vincent matched his season-high with nine points.
Freshman
Jackson Sowards had his first career steal late, before converting a layup and a pair of free throws for his first career points (4) in just 53 seconds of action. All 12 healthy Privateers played, with eight adding their names to the scoresheet.
Vanderbilt was led in scoring by Tyler Nickel with 19 points and five made threes. Devin McGlockton had a double-double for the Commodores after scoring 14 and pulling down 10 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures for Vandy were Jason Edwards with 17 points and JQ Roberts, who finished with 16.
Vanderbilt forced 22 UNO turnovers and ended the game shooting 14-of-34 from three and 14-of-15 from the free throw line. UNO finished 4-of-17 from three-point range and 14-of-23 from the line.
New Orleans returns home for the first time since early November when they host UTRGV at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Lakefront Arena. The game will air on ESPN+, with free audio available on UNOPrivateers.com.
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