NEW ORLEANS, La. - New Orleans Men's basketball program (6-14, SLC 3-6) dropped to Southland conference leader Southeastern despite an outstanding performance from Jordan Johnson, who led the Privateers with 26 points, at Lakefront Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Privateers jumped to a 17-8 lead in the opening six minutes of the first half with Johnson scoring ten of the 17 points. However, the Lions kept New Orleans at a standstill while they ate away at the lead until they reached a tie at 8:50. By 4:35, the Lions already went on a 15-8 run to put them up 30-25, and within the remaining minutes of the half, they went on another 14-point run to close out the half 44-31.
In addition to 15 turnovers, the Privateers couldn't get the looks they wanted to the foul line after continuously driving inside in the second part of the half. They went 2-of-3 against the Lions who were 10-of-11 at the charity stripe. Jordan Johnson put up 16 points and shot 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the arc to lead both teams into the locker room.
The first ten minutes of the second half was off to a slow start with Tyson Jackson, Khaleb Wilson-Rouse and Simeon Kirkland putting up seven points combined for the Privateers at 4-of-18 shooting from the field. Southeastern's 17-9 run in the first ten minutes proved difficult for the Privateers to fully recover from despite going on a 24-22 run in the final ten minutes that saw Johnson put up 10 of those points. The Privateers finished with 47.2% from the field at 25-of-53 and 66% from the charity stripe at 6-of-9.
Jordan Johnson, who nearly played the entire 40 minutes (39:59), put up 26 points, his second consecutive and fourth game of the season with over 20 points. Johnson was 9-of-15 from the field and perfect from the charity stripe at 3-of-3. Tyson Jackson was the other Privateer in double figures with 12 points at 6-of-8 from the field. Kirkland saw his second consecutive game in double-digit rebounding to lead the team with 10 alongside 5 points. Sackey, Wilson-Rouse, Omarion Henry, Turk Vincent, and Darrius Washington also contributed for the Privateers.
UP NEXT: The Privateers welcome Texas A&M - Corpus Christi to the Lakefront on Thursday, Feb. 2. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
