NEW ORLEANS – The Northwestern State Demons (12-15, 9-8 Southland) went on a massive first-half run, and the University of New Orleans Privateers (4-24, 2-15) couldn't catch up, falling 73-66 on Saturday night at Lakefront Arena.
After a Luke Davis turnaround jumper and a three-pointer by Kohen Rowbatham gave the Privateers an early 5-0 lead, Northwestern State went on a 31-5 run, primarily using the three-ball. During the run, the Demons made 12 of 17 shots from the floor, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. Micah Thomas scored seven, and Jerald Colonel scored six. NSU shot 55% in the first half, including 63.6% from three-point range, to UNO's 24.1% and 16.7%, respectively, on their way to a 39-24 advantage at halftime.
New Orleans used a scoring spurt of its own in the second half to make things interesting. Leland Coleman knocked down a right-sided three-pointer before Grant Kemp took the ball away from Jon Saunders and found Theo Grant for a fast-break layup to cut the NSU lead to nine with 11:36 to play.
A minute later, Luke Davis' layup cut it to eight with just under 10 minutes to play. A three-pointer from Rowbatham again cut it to eight with 8:40 to go.
Kemp stole the ball from Micah Thomas with under a minute and 30 seconds to play and launched a cross-court outlet pass to Rowbatham. Contact under the basket from Micah Thomas sent Rowbatham to the line for a pair of free throws that cut it to six with 1:26 to play, but the Demons were able to see out the victory.
Rowbatham led the Privateers with 20 points – his third outing of 20 or more this season. Davis finished a rebound shy of back-to-back double-doubles after scoring a career-high 17 to go with his nine rebounds. MJ Thomas scored 11 and finished a rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards as well.
Jackson Sowards saw a little over a minute of action – his first minutes on the floor since playing at HCU on Feb. 8. The Privateers' streak of five consecutive games winning the rebounding battle came to an end, with the Demons finishing with 37 rebounds to UNO's 32.
Micah Thomas finished with 23 points to lead Northwestern State on 7-of-14 shooting, including 5 of 9 from three-point range. Love Bettis used an 8-of-8 night at the charity stripe to score his 15 points. The 12 three-pointers by NSU surpassed their previous season high of 11 at Rice in February.
New Orleans hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday night at Lakefront Arena to conclude the home schedule. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+ and the Ticket 106.1 FM.
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