Thobodeaux, Berzat lead UNO past A&M Corpus Christi, 61-55

Thibodeaux reaches 20 for third consecutive game and Berzat scored career-high 15 in victory

NEW ORLEANS – The Islanders threatened but the Privateers caught fire late from three-point range and the University of New Orleans (8-9, 5-1 Southland) defeated Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (4-11, 1-4 Southland) 61-55 Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena.

Travin Thibodeaux reached 20 points for the third consecutive game and added three blocks and three steals, and Lamont Berzat finished with a career-high 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting and four steals.

The victory puts New Orleans in a tie with Nicholls atop the Southland Conference at 5-1.

FIRST HALF
The stifling defense by the Privateer women’s team in the earlier victory carried over to the men’s game with New Orleans holding the Islanders to 1-of-8 shooting at the under 12 media. The 11-3 lead was capped off by five points off the bench for freshman Berzat, who’s and-one brought the crowd to their feet.

The lead reached double figures on the other side of the break on Berzat’s layup off Damion Rosser’s beautiful bounce pass.

It went down as an 11-0 run with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scoreless from 17:09 to the 9:51 mark.

An 8-0 Islander run cut the UNO lead to three but the Privateers went into the half leading 22-16 behind Berzat’s seven points and career-high four steals. Thibodeaux added six points, three blocks and two steals and Makur Puou picked up five rebounds.

Despite shooting 25.0 percent from the floor, the Privateers made the most of Islander miscues, scoring 14 of their 22 points off turnovers. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went just 7-of-25 from the field.

SECOND HALF
Minutes into the frame, Kareem South’s triple gave the Islanders their first lead of the game but Matthew Jiles followed with a trey of his own to regain the lead for UNO.

A 7-0 TAMUCC run put the visitors ahead by five with 13:44 to play. Prior to the under-12 media, Scott Plaisance’s jumper and Berzat’s three knotted the game at 32. The triple put Lamont in double figures for the second time this season.

Elijah Schmidt’s layup allowed the Islanders to regain a two-point lead but Thibodeaux’s hook shot with 9:44 remaining tied the game at 34.

Schmidt drained both free throws seconds later and Berzat hit his third triple to reach 13 points, a caeer-high for the New Orleans native, and give the Silver and Blue the one-point lead.

Kareem South scored five unanswered before Thibodeaux responded with and old fashioned three-point play and a triple, his first of the game, to put New Orleans in front 43-41 with 6:41 to play.

The run, capped off by free throws for Puou and Michael Zeno, was 10-0 with a six-point cushion for the Privateers.

Following the Ezekiel Charles offensive rebound heading into the media timeout, New Orleans led 51-49 with 2:41 to go.

Up one with less than a minute to play, the Privateers let the shot clock run down and Berzat found Zeno for a dunk to extend the lead to three with 32 ticks remaining.

A&M-Corpus Christi hit the first of two to cut it to 57-55 with 7.9 seconds to go but the miss on the latter allowed Thibodeaux to corral the rebound and head to the line for two.

Thibodeaux and Berzat drained free throws down the stretch as the Privateers improved to 5-1 in conference on the year with the 61-55 victory over the Islanders.

NEXT UP
The Privateers welcome Central Arkansas to Lakefront Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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