NEW ORLEANS –
Churchill Abass and
MJ Thomas each scored 20 points and the New Orleans Privateers controlled the second half in an 89-76 victory over the Lamar Cardinals on Monday night at the Lakefront Arena.
Abass set a new career-high in points and Thomas had his first 20-point game of the season as the Privateers (7-12, 5-5) shot 53.7 percent from the field, their third highest field goal percentage of the season.
Lamar tied the score twice early in the second half but they never went ahead in the final 20 minutes of play. Abass drove for a dunk, one of several highlight reel plays in the second half as the Privateers steadily pulled away. They also finished with a flourish, connecting on their last seven shots from the field over the final 6:42 of the game.
Meanwhile on defense, the Privateers held Lamar without a field goal for a four-minute stretch on two different occasions in the second half. The Cardinals shot just 39 percent for the game.
A tightly contested first half saw the score tied nine times and the lead change hands seven times. The score was tied at each of the first three media timeouts at 11-11, 18-18 and 28-28.
New Orleans surged ahead with a run of nine straight points.
TJ Cope had the first four points to spark the run and he added a driving layup inside the final minute of the half. New Orleans also had 21 free throw trips in the first half and had a 14-4 advantage in free throws made.
By the time it got to half, New Orleans held a 41-36 advantage. Cardinals star guard and recent Southland Player of the Week, Rob Lee Jr. was limited to just eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
Braden East had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinals. Andrew Holifield added 20 points.
INSIDE THE BOX
Five Privateers scored in double figures on the night.
Jakevion Buckley had 13 points and eight assists.
TJ Cope finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 from the field.
Coleton Benson had 10 points. Thomas added nine rebounds on top of his 20 points while Abass chipped in with seven boards.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will head to McNeese on Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. scheduled tip. The originally announced game time of 4 p.m. was changed due to the forecast of inclement weather in the region.
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