NEW ORLEANS – A scoreless drought over the last three minutes and twenty seconds doomed the University of New Orleans men's basketball team (4-25, 2-16 Southland) in a loss to East Texas A&M (3-25, 2-17 Southland), 73-71 on Monday evening at Lakefront Arena.
Leading by four at halftime, the Privateers were able to extend their lead to as much as 15 after a 14-3 run. Key contributions from
JR Jacobs,
Leland Coleman,
Luke Davis and Thomas over the first five minutes of the second period extended the Privateer lead to its largest margin of the night.
The Lions slowly chipped away at UNO's lead during the final minutes of the contest before KC Ugwuakazi caught
Kohen Rowbatham's inbounds pass at half court and finished with a one-handed jam with 22 seconds left giving East Texas A&M their first lead of the second half, 72-71. Rowbatham missed a layup on the other end, and
MJ Thomas' second-chance attempt came off the backboard as the Lions were able to hold on for their first road victory of the season.
MJ Thomas finished with his sixth double-double of the campaign after scoring 16 points and pulling down a new career-high 18 rebounds – one more than he had in his record setting game against Nicholls a week ago. He joined Corey Chest of LSU, and Derik Queen of Maryland as Div. I freshmen with 18 or more rebounds in a game this season.
JR Jacobs finished with 14 points and 7 assists, while Rowbatham and
Theo Grant each scored 11 to round out the double-figure scorers for UNO.
TJ Thomas led East Texas A&M with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Ugwuakazi finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. The Lions held UNO to 34% from the field in the second half after the Privateers made 50% of their shots in the first half.
Next up for the Privateers is a trip to Edinburg, Texas on Saturday for an afternoon affair with UTRGV. Tipoff from the UTRGV Fieldhouse is set for 4:30 p.m. with coverage available on both ESPN+ and The Ticket 106.1 FM.
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