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KATY, Texas – New Orleans knew that a quick start would force an already-weary Sam Houston State team to play an up-tempo style that fell right into the hands of the Privateers. Once Makur Puou got going, the plan fell into place and put UNO into their first Southland Conference Men’s Tournament final.
Puou scored six early points to lead a well-balanced New Orleans attack as the top-seeded Privateers pulled off a 75-63 win over No. 5 Sam Houston State at the Merrell Center on Friday, leaving the regular season champions (19-11) awaiting the winner of the late game between Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Saturday night’s title game at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
“It’s a great culmination for our university,” said Privateers head coach Mark Slessinger, whose team also recorded their first win over Sam Houston State (21-13) since joining the Southland Conference in 2013. “From the president’s office on down, this is a team effort.”
Guard Christavious Gill, who scored 15 points and recorded three of New Orleans’ ten steals, said the opening burst was the key toward getting the Privateers on their way.
“It was important,” he said. “They had played two games in two nights, so we wanted to wear them down. It helped us at the end. We got off to the big lead, they came back at the end, but we got the W.”
Leading by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Privateers held off an inspired run from the Bearkats, who rode the shooting of Dakarai Henderson to push within 66-60 when Henderson hit his fifth three-pointer of the night with 2:19 remaining. It would prove to be as close as New Orleans would allow matters to escalate, as they hit nine of ten free throws over the final moments of play.
Free throws were a vital foundation for the Privateers, who connected on 24 of their 30 attempts from the charity stripe. Player of the Year Erik Thomas was perfect from the line, hitting on all 10 of his shots at the line on his way to an 18-point night.
New Orleans also did a stellar job at containing the Bearkats’ two Third Team All-Conference members. Sam Houston State forward Aruimas Majauskas was held to just six points, while John Dewey III was limited to eight.
The Privateers gave up the game’s first two points but then outscored the Bearkats 19-5 to take a 12-point lead with 12:48 left in the opening half. New Orleans extended the lead to as much as 30-16 at the 7:44 mark, riding the hand of an offense that was shooting at a blistering 71-percent clip at the under-eight timeout.
Sam Houston State tried to stay within shouting distance, yet each time the Bearkats moved to close the gap to single digits, the Privateers responded.
Taking a 39-25 lead into intermission, New Orleans watched Sam Houston State twice close within 12 points before going on a 7-0 run that gave the Privateers a 52-33 margin when Gill buried a trey with 14:20 remaining. The lead reached 54-36 at the 11:45 mark before the Bearkats, who shot just 38.3 percent from the field, slowly began to work their back into the contest.
Down 64-47 with 5:34 on the clock, Sam Houston State put together their best offensive run of the night, firing off a 13-2 run that was capped by Henderson’s triple. Henderson, who scored 16 points, had six points and an offensive rebound that led to a Cameron Delaney three-pointer during the run.
“I thought we came out a little flat, but I think the biggest thing to do is to give New Orleans credit,” said Bearkats coach Jason Hooten. “They really came out hungry tonight. They took it to us and we really didn’t recover from it.”
Sam Houston State, which made its fifth straight trip to the conference semifinals and sixth in the last seven, is expected to receive a postseason invite on Sunday night. The Bearkats have earned invites to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) the last three seasons.