LAKE CHARLES, La. – The 2022-23 season came to an end for the HCU men's basketball team on Sunday night at the Legacy Center as the No. 6 seed Huskies fell, 90-69, to seventh-seed New Orleans.
The Privateers (11-19) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead thanks to a 8-0 run that included back-to-back threes from Jordan Johnson.
Maks Klanjscek and
Brycen Long answered for the Huskies (10-22) with consecutive threes to cut it to 10-8. A Tyson Jackson layup put UNO back ahead by four but Klanjscek and
Chigozie Achara each knocked down buckets in the paint to even things up at 12-12.
The Huskies took the lead three times in the next three-plus minutes with a Klanjscek triple at the 9:07 mark putting HCU ahead 21-18. The Privateers took a 31-25 lead with 4:40 left in the half but HCU again answered with a pair of threes, this time out of the hands of
Tristan Moore and Klanjscek, tying things up at 31-31. UNO pulled away over the final 3:30 of the half, closing out the period with a 10-8 run to lead 41-33 at the break.
After
Zach Iyeyemi opened the scoring in the second half Johnson scored the next five to give UNO an 11-point advantage. That lead grew to 14 just over four minutes into the half but the Huskies trimmed their deficit back down to nine on two occasions. From their, UNO pushed its lead back to double-digits and kept the Huskies at arms length the rest of the game.
Klanjscek led the Huskies and tied for a game-high with 29 points, connecting on 10-of-25 from the floor, 4-of-10 from three and 5-of-6 from the foul line. The senior also pulled down seven rebounds. Bazil finished with 13 points and
Tristan Moore added eight off the bench.
HCU shot 40 percent (26-of-65) from the floor and just 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from three in the loss. New Orleans, meanwhile, connected on 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from beyond the arc and 56.3 percent (36-of-64) overall. UNO also held a 49-30 advantage on the boards.
