The Privateers (3-7, 1-1) jumped out the gate to a 9-0 lead playing much more aggressive defense than they had of late. New Orleans maintained a steady lead throughout the half and led 38-26 at the break.
They extended that lead to 54-39 before UIW began its comeback. Shooting 12-for-27 on threes and led by the talented Davion Bailey, UIW rallied furiously as UNO struggled to get stops. They flashed ahead briefly at 78-76 before Coleton Benson, who had been held scoreless to that point, drilled a three while getting fouled, completing the four-point play and giving UNO back the lead.
At 84-83, Bailey, who had a game-high 28 points, drove the lane and flipped up a shot that bounced off the rim and was tipped away as the buzzer sounded.
UNO was led by high-flying T.J. Cope with 19 points. Jay Buckley contributed 18 points, including several critical scores down the stretch, and 7 assists. M.J. Thomas did a little of everything, posting 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Panagiotis Pagonis added 14 on 5-of-6 shooting.
New Orleans will step back out of conference for the last time this coming Saturday when they take on the national runner-up Houston Cougars before a lengthy holiday break.
A Kedrick Osby three tied the game at 10-10, but Memphis led the rest of the night, opening up a 25-point second half lead before UNO fought back late to make the score more competitive. T.J. Cope came off the bench to lead the Bucs with 21 points, and Jay Buckley added 14. Standout shooter Coleton Benson was limited to three points on 1-for-9 shooting.
The Privateers look forward to opening their conference schedule on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. at Lakefront Arena against Houston Christian.
New Orleans, holding a tenuous five-point lead at 58-53, launched what should have been a game-deciding 8-0 run in the waning minutes that gave them their biggest lead with just under five minutes to play. However, as the Privateers (2-4) have done many times of late, they helplessly watched as their entire lead evaporated down the stretch.
They were able to force overtime and even tied it late in the extra frame, only to lose on a banked three-pointer with 1.9 seconds left.
Coleton Benson led the way with 25 points and seven threes. Churchill Abass and M.J. Thomas both posted double-doubles with 13 points and 10 rebounds each.
UNO will travel to Lubbock for a pre-Thanksgiving day game on Wednesday at #10 Texas Tech.
New Orleans quickly fell behind by 16 points and spent the rest of the night trying to recover. They got as close as one point late in the second half but couldn't quite break through, as the Waves' dependable free throw shooting carried them through the endgame to a victory.
Panagiotis Pagonis co-led the Privateers with 17 points. Coleton Benson, after being shut down in the first half, found his stroke and also ended up with 17 points. Jay Buckley added 15.
UNO hit 12 three-pointers and outrebounded the Waves 40-35, but the game was decided by the lopsided turnover margin; UNO had 17 to Pepperdine's 6, and the Waves scored 22 points off turnovers.
New Orleans will stay on the West Coast and take on Fresno State on Friday night.
The Privateers, fresh off a drubbing of Tulane, appeared at #24 in the Mid-Major Madness Top 25 rankings this week. The trouncing of the Green Wave, in addition to their victory over TCU on November 3, has gotten New Orleans some recognition early in the season.
New Orleans, which led TCU by an amazing 16 points at the half and expanded it to 20 with only a few minutes to play, nearly squandered the whole thing. Leading 70-50, UNO surrendered a 20-2 run, and at 74-72, the host Frogs had two three-pointers to take the lead and missed both, allowing the Privateers to salvage the upset.
It was a fitting end for TCU, which bricked 24 of its 27 attempts from beyond the arc and shot just 39% overall. UNO was led by Coleton Benson's 22 points, including four threes. He even added six rebounds as part of a 38-28 team victory on the boards over the Big 12 hosts. Jay Buckley added 13 points and 9 assists, and M.J. Thomas had 10 points and 7 rebounds.
New Orleans will play a home exhibition against SUNO this Saturday.
The Privateers completed a winless season at Lakefront Arena with a come-from-ahead loss to East Texas A&M, 73-71.
New Orleans trailed early in a turnover-plagued first half but took the lead on a Luke Davis layup at 21-20. The Privateers (4-25, 2-16) continued that roll into the second half, building as much as a 15-point lead before the Lions came roaring back to tie the game on a Yusef Salih three at 56-56.
From that point, the Privateers surged ahead behind the stellar play of star freshman M.J. Thomas, who posted a monster game with 16 points and 18 rebounds. But they fumbled away a 71-61 lead, and at 71-70 with seconds to go, E-TAMU's K.C. Ugwuakazi stole an inbounds pass and laid in the go-ahead bucket to doom the Privateers yet again. The Lions scored the final 12 points of the contest.
Thomas led a dominant Privateer effort on the glass, as UNO won the rebounding battle 50-31. J.R. Jacobs contributed 14 points and 7 assists.
UNO will conclude the season with a two-game road swing at UT-Rio Grande Valley and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday and next Monday, respectively.
Sawyer Toney and Bryce Calloway made that lead hold up with a scoreless 8th and 9th in relief, and the Privateers hung on.
The first game of Saturday's doubleheader wasn't nearly that close. The visiting Eagles out of the ACC took a lead early and were never threatened, coasting to an 11-3 win. Zach Longshore struggled in his second start, and despite another three hits from Loriga, the New Orleans offense could never get going.
The Privateers (3-3) got a better outcome in the nightcap. While they blew a 5-0 lead and fell behind on a BC ninth inning solo shot, a clutch two-out single from Collin Loupe tied it in the bottom of the ninth, and then Jahlani Rogers was plunked with the bases loaded in the 11th to secure a 7-6 UNO win.
The Colonels broke open a close game with a late 8-0 run to open up a double digit lead at the half. New Orleans (4-23, 2-14) fell behind by as many as 21 in the second half before using their own 15-1 run to get as close as 56-50. The Colonels, though, clamped down defensively down the stretch to hang on for the victory.
New Orleans outrebounded Nicholls for the game on the strength of M.J. Thomas' astounding 17 rebounds as well as Luke Davis' 11. Both Thomas and Davis turned in double-doubles. However, the Privateers shot just 36% as a team.
UNO will have two more chances to win on the lakefront, the first of which will come this Saturday against Northwestern State.
UNO (4-22, 2-13) played a feisty first half, actually taking a 22-21 lead at the under-8 timeout. From that point on, the visiting Cowboys ripped off a 21-3 run before the break and never looked back, though the Privateers did use a 13-0 second half run to briefly pull back within single digits.
Leland Coleman led New Orleans with 15 points, while Kohen Rowbatham and J.R. Jacobs added 14 each.
The Privateers will again try to notch their first home win of the 2024-25 season on Monday night against Nicholls. UNO lost to the Colonels at Stopher Gym 73-70 earlier this season.
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| Freshman M.J. Thomas |
With James White, Jah Short, Turk Vincent, and Dae Dae Hunter all sidelined for violating team rules, New Orleans dressed just eight players and relied on two freshmen for the bulk of their scoring. Even so, UNO played the Lions more competitively on the road then last month's game at Lakefront Arena, when they were at full strength.
The first half was highly competitive, though the Lions scored the last five points late in the frame to go up 45-37 at the break. UNO played the hosts even in the second half, relying on M.J. Thomas' 22 points and 10 rebounds, as well as Kohen Rowbatham's 17 points, to remain within striking distance until the end.
The Privateers next host Stephen F. Austin on Monday evening at Lakefront Arena.
New Orleans was never competitive against the Cardinals in Monday night's game. An early 19-3 UIW run, capped by a Davion Bailey triple, gave them a 30-11 cushion, and the Bucs never got closer than 14 thereafter.
UNO was led by James White with 15 points. Jah Short added 13.
The Privateers head to Hammond on Saturday for a matchup with the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, who beat UNO 83-63 earlier in the season.
UNO trailed most of the first half but concluded the frame with an 8-0 run culminating with a James White score at the buzzer. It was White's 15th point and gave the Privateers a 38-37 lead heading to the locker room.
A close battle continued in the second half, but with New Orleans up 60-58, the Huskies executed a decisive 18-4 run that gave them the lead for good. UNO couldn't keep the Huskies off the glass and out of the paint down the stretch, nor could they contain Bryson Dawkins, who led HCU with 28.
White had 29 total points for the game on 11-of-18 shooting to lead UNO, in addition to a team-leading 9 rebounds. Turk Vincent added 18 and Dae Dae Hunter 15.
UNO has a quick turnaround to Monday night when they will host Incarnate Word.
New Orleans trailed 9-3 early but righted the ship, heading to the locker room at 35-35 and taking over the lead for most of the second half. Turk Vincent filled the void created by White's injury with a 28-point effort, including a spectacular 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. He also led the team in rebounds with 7.
Freshman Kohen Rowbatham added 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and fellow freshman M.J. Thomas had 13 to go along with 6 rebounds.
New Orleans (4-14, 2-5) has one more stop on its three-game road swing, heading to Northwestern State on Monday for a 1 p.m. tipoff, moved up due to impending frigid weather.
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| M.J. Thomas had a career high 18 points |
Since beating Tulane on November 22, New Orleans has been reeling. While many of these losses came in buy games, the Privateers have not found better fortune in Southland play, even in Lakefront Arena, where they've dropped their first three home conference games. Tonight was the latest in that run, with the Lions roaring to an early 23-10 lead and never really looking back.
New Orleans had difficulty handling Sam Hines, Jr., who posted a double-double with 30 points and 10 boards. UNO did get a career high from M.J. Thomas, who led the Bucs with 18 points. James White had 15 and Dae Dae Hunter 11 to round out the double-digit scorers for the Privateers. Luke Davis led the home team with 7 rebounds.
Next up for UNO is a road date with Lamar at the Montagne Center on Monday night.
