Box Score

Postgame Interview with Ron Cottrell (video)

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Houston Baptist extended its winning streak to five games, overcoming a 14-point, second-half deficit to pull out a 75-68 overtime victory on the road over future Southland Conference foe New Orleans Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena.
 
Senior forward Art Bernardi scored 20 or more points for the fourth time in the last five games, leading the Huskies (9-14) with 23 points and four rebounds. He went 10-of-17 from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the line. Freshman guard Rob Lewis came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points, while freshman forward Dauson Womack added 11 points and six rebounds off the bench.
 
Sophomore guard Marcel Smith had 10 points, and freshman guard Caleb Crayton had seven points, a game-high 11 rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Anthony Hill hit a pair of 3-pointers and tied Crayton for the team lead with five assists. Smith, Lewis and Womack each had four points in overtime.
 
Lovell Cook went 6-of-15 from the field to lead UNO (7-14) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Cory Dixon added 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Privateers, while Rarlensee Nelson had 11 points and six assists.
 
HBU shot 48 percent from the field for the game, including 48 percent in the second half and 80 percent (4-of-5) in overtime, while UNO shot 40 percent, only 35 percent in the second half and 38 percent (3-for-8) in the extra frame. The Huskies went 15-for-28 from the free-throw line, while the Privateers went 16-for-20. UNO outrebounded HBU, 38-36, but committed 22 turnovers to the Huskies' 18.  
 
Tied 60-60 going into overtime, Dixon scored on a layup for UNO and Womack answered with a layup on the other end for HBU. McPherson hit a 3-pointer for the Privateers, then Smith buried a trey for the Huskies to tie it, 65-65, with 3:12 to go. Dixon followed a miss by Max Banchy with a layin to put UNO ahead, but Crayton drained a 3-pointer to give HBU a one-point lead with 2:38 left. After the Privateers turned the ball over on an offensive foul, Lewis knocked down a jumper to put HBU ahead, 70-67, with two minutes left.
 
On the next possession, Dixon drove in the lane, but had the ball stripped away by Bernardi. HBU turned the ball over with 41 seconds left, but Nelson missed a layup and the Huskies got the rebound with 27 seconds to go. Lewis went to the line with 17 seconds remaining and sank both free throws to put HBU ahead by five. Nelson was fouled with 12 seconds left and had a basket waived off on an offensive goaltending call. Nelson made one of two to cut UNO's deficit to four, then Smith was fouled on the inbounds play. Smith made one of two to put HBU ahead 73-68 with 11 seconds on the clock. Maurice County's 3-pointer was long, Womack secured the rebound, then hit a pair of free throws for the Huskies' final margin of victory.
 
The Privateers scored the first two buckets of the second half to extend their lead to 10, then Kevin Hill scored five in a row for UNO to give the Privateers a 44-31 lead with 16:51 left. UNO led by as many as 14 with 15:30 remaining, but Crayton went hard to the basket for a layup, then Smith and Hill drilled back-to-back threes to cut HBU's deficit to six with 12:33 to go.
 
The Huskies trailed, 50-42, at the 10:24 mark, but ripped off seven-straight on a free throw and a layup by Lewis, a jumper by Bernardi and a layup by Womack to cut the Privateers' lead to one. The Huskies trailed by three and had an in-bounds play with one second left on the shot clock when Crayton threw it up in the middle of the lane and Bernardi tapped it in off the glass, then Crayton made a steal and took it the distance to give HBU a 53-52 lead with 5:31 on the clock.
 
UNO answered with a jumper by Cook and a layup by Nelson to take the lead back, then Denard made a pair of free throws to give the Privateers a four-point advantage. Bernardi knocked down a 17-footer, then Lewis drove the baseline for a layup to tie the game, 58-58, with 2:31 remaining. Lewis then buried a long jumper to give the Huskies the lead with 1:45 to go. HBU forced a missed layup, but Crayton came down with the rebound out of bounds, giving the ball back to UNO with 51 seconds left.
 
Dixon was fouled with 49 seconds on the clock, and made both free throws to tie the game, 60-60. Smith missed a jumper in the lane with 20 seconds left, but Crayton came up with the offensive rebound and called timeout. Smith's runner with two seconds remaining, came up short and UNO called a timeout with 1.2 seconds left. Womack intercepted the Privateers' inbounds pass to send the game into overtime.
 
UNO scored the first two points of the game of a pair of technical free throws for a pregame violation, but Hill scored the first basket of the game, a three-pointer to put HBU ahead. UNO took a 7-5 lead on a three-pointer by McPherson, but HBU tied it on a layup by Joyce from Bernardi, then a took the lead on a trey by Bernardi. The Privateers scored the next four to reclaim the lead, but a 7-0 run, capped by a Bernardi layup, put the Huskies ahead 18-12 with 12:11 remaining.
 
The Privateers answered with a 9-0 run to take a three-point lead, then led 26-20 on a three-point play by Cook with 7:06 to go. The Privateers pushed their lead to nine on a jumper by Mack with 2:46 left, but HBU scored the next four to cut the deficit to five. UNO went on to take a 35-29 lead into halftime.
 
Bernardi led the Huskies with 13 points at the break, while Cook had 10 for the Privateers. HBU shot 40 percent from the field for the half, while UNO shot 47 percent. The Privateers outrebounded the Huskies, 19-13, in the frame.
 
HBU's five-game winning streak is the longest since the Huskies ended the 2007-08 season with a six-game winning streak from Jan. 30 to Feb. 18.
 
The Huskies return to action and Great West Conference play when they hit the road to face Texas-Pan American Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in Edinburg, Texas.