BOX SCORE
NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team (2-4, 0-0 Southland) fell just short of its first victory in SEC country since 1986 after pushing the Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-3, 0-0 SEC) to overtime on Monday night. Amier Ali banked in a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining in the extra period to give Mississippi State an 81-78 victory.
The Privateers led by three with less than a minute left in regulation before Josh Hubbard — the SEC's leading scorer — hit from beyond the arc and drew
Jakevion Buckley's fifth foul. Hubbard made his free throw to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the second half with 48.8 seconds to play.
MJ Thomas drew a foul from Jamarion Davis-Fleming and sank the two biggest free throws of his young career, giving UNO another one-point lead, 68-67, with just over 20 seconds remaining. UNO's defense forced a missed layup from Ja'borri McGhee, but MSU was able to maintain possession. Ali made one of two free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
Down by four with just over two and half minutes left in overtime,
Churchill Abass sank a pair of free throws to make it 75-73 Bulldogs. Shawn Jones Jr. blocked an effort at the rim by
TJ Cope before the loose ball went out of bounds off Mississippi State. Coleton
Benson took a handoff from
Panagiotis Pagonis and banked in an angled 3-pointer from the right side high off the glass to tie the game at 78-78 with 27.8 seconds left in overtime.
Coleton finished with a team-leading 25 points, including seven 3-pointers. This season he has scored 20 or more points in three of his five games played. He was also 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and remains a perfect 24-for-24 this season.
Abass finished with the first double-double of his collegiate career after scoring 13 points and pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench. His four blocks were the most by a Privateer since Damion Rosser had four against UIW in 2021.
Thomas finished with identical numbers for his first double-double this season and the seventh of his career. Buckley finished with 11 points, six assists and four rebounds.
New Orleans finished 16-for-17 from the free-throw line — a 94.1% clip — its best game at the stripe as a team since a 13-for-13 afternoon at Northwestern State in 2023. UNO also outrebounded its SEC foe 44-42. The Privateers led the game by as much as 13 with 5:14 left to play in the second half, and for more than 30 minutes in total.
UP NEXT
The Privateers head to Lubbock, Texas for a matchup with the No. 20 Texas Tech Red Raiders on Wednesday afternoon. The game will air on ESPN+ and locally on 106.7 The Ticket FM. Tipoff from United Supermarkets Arena is set for 12:00 p.m.
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