Privateers slam door on Cowboys late, advance to Southland Semfinals

KATY, Tex. – The University of New Orleans pulled away from the McNeese Cowboys late in the second half, 82-78,’ to advance to the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams were hot from the floor in the opening segment of the game with UNO (18-12, 11-4 Southland) hitting three of their first five shots, and McNeese hitting five of their first 10.

After a jump shot by Tyson Jackson, Jonathan Massie showed why he was the Southland Freshman of the Year giving McNeese (10-22, 5-11 Southland) a four-point advantage at the first media time out. Massie scored seven of McNeese’s first eleven points in the first four and a half minutes of the contest.

D’Ante Bell answered another Massie bucket with a two-handed dunk at the 14:09 mark, and a fast-break layup by Troy Green drew a foul on Massie with the ensuing free throw cutting the Cowboys lead to a single point at the 13:38 mark. Derek St. Hilaire drove, missed a layup off the glass but got his own offensive rebound, and put back giving New Orleans a 16-14 lead just before the 12-minute media time out.

Jamel Myers’ bounce pass found Simeon Kirkland for an up and under move giving the Privateers their largest lead of the first half 24-19 with 10:10 to play. Rodney Carson Jr. then took the ball away from Massie and went the length of the court for the two-handed jam giving the UNO a 34-28 lead with just over five minutes to play in the half.

A Zach Scott three-point effort and bucket by Brendan Medley-Bacon cut the Privateer advantage to just three points with a minute left in the first half. Out of the UNO time out, Bell’s hook shot drew iron, and Kmani Doughty was called for a foul – Trae English split a pair of free throws for the Cowboy and the Privateers led 40-38 at the half.

Long misses by St. Hilaire allowed Myles Lewis, Christian Shumate, and Trae English to lead the Cowboys on a 6-0 spurt and forced Mark Slessinger to call a tie out at 13:54 with the Privateers trailing 49-44.

Baskets from Green and Myers kept the Privateers close at 53-52. English buried a three-pointer, before Shumate thundered home a windmill dunk off a UNO turnover. Another fast break layup by the Cowboys forced Coach Slessinger to call another time out with the Privateers trailing 60-52 with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.

St. Hilaire responded knocking down a deep three from the right with a Cowboy in his face, before the graduate student found Bell for a big dunk to make it 66-64 with just under eight minutes to play, swinging the momentum back to UNO.

Back and forth the teams went trading buckets down the stretch before Myers tied the game at 70 with a shot from the top of the key with 4:10 remaining. English missed the front end of a one-and-one before Cowboy Kellon Taylor fouled Bell fighting for the loose ball.

The second-year freshman split one of two giving New Orleans the smallest of leads 71-70 at the four-minute mark. St. Hilaire and Green made four pressure-packed free throws extending the UNO lead five 75-70, forcing McNeese Head John Aiken to call time out with 3:06 to play.

It didn’t matter – out of the time out Jackson took the ball right to the post and scored an and-one hook jump hook making it 77-70 with 2:25 left.

English knocked down a pair of free throws with 58.3 seconds to go, cutting the New Orleans lead to four, but that was as close as the Cowboys got.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
– Troy Green led the Privateers with 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
– Derek St. Hilaire scored 16 and made 7-of-8 free throw attempts
– Jahmel Myers finished with 10 points after making 5-of-7 shots and matched his season-high with 25 minutes played.
– Daniel Sackey finished with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting with 6 assists.
– Already top three in the league in minutes played per game, both Green and St. Hilaire played 39 minutes each tonight.
– UNO finished with five blocks, the most against a Div. I opponent since swatting six against McNeese earlier this season.

NEXT UP
The No. 3 seed Privateers will take on the No. 2 seed Southeastern Lions tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+ with a trip to the Southland Championship on the line. Fans can watch the game on ESPN+, or listen live with Jude Young and Tic Price on NASH 106.1 FM or online at http://www.nash1061fm.com. 

SOCIAL MEDIA
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