NEW ORLEANS, La. – The HCU men's basketball team found itself fighting to comeback from an early hole but dropped a road Southland Conference matchup to New Orleans in Lakefront Arena on Saturday, 82-59.
For the second-straight game, HCU (4-12, 1-2 SLC) fell behind 8-0 before getting on the board.
Bonke Maring scored the next four points, getting HCU to within four, but the rest of the half was all New Orleans (5-9, 2-1 SLC). The Huskies shot just 4-of-22 from the floor in the half and were 0-of-10 from three-point range as the Privateers raced out to a 43-16 lead at halftime.
UNO scored on the opening possession of the second half and then the Huskies came alive offensively with back-to-back three-pointers from
Brycen Long, a driving layup from
Andrew King with an assist from Long and a pair of free throws for Long to make it a 10-0 run. HCU began trimming its deficit more from there with Long getting a fast break layup off a steal to bring it to 51-37 with just over 12 minutes left to play.
Khaleb Wilson-Rouse answered with a three for the Privateers before a 7-1 run by HCU pulled the Huskies to within 11, 55-44, with 8:21 on the clock. UNO came back with the next seven points and put the game out of reach down the stretch.
King finished just shy of his career-high with 15 points to lead the Huskies and the freshman also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Long ended the game with 13 points while Maring had 12. Junior
Nate Hudson finished with a career-best eight rebounds and four points off the bench.
HCU out-rebounded the Privateers, 39-36, but was hurt by 22 turnovers to just 13 by the hosts. The Huskies ended the game shooting 33.3 percent (16-of-48) from the field and 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from three but knocked down 24-of-33 (72.7 percent) from the charity stripe. New Orleans shot 51.6 percent (33-of-64) from the floor and 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from three. Omarion Henry led UNO with a game-high 18 points and Jordan Johnson had 17.
The Huskies return to Sharp Gym on Thursday, Jan. 12, to host SLC newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce at 7:00 p.m. before a short trip back across the state line to face McNeese in Lake Charles, La. on Saturday, Jan. 14, afternoon.
