Feb. 23, 2002

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Sun Belt Player of the Year candidate Hector Romero tallied his 17th double-double of the season with a game-high 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead the New Orleans to a 69-46 win over Denver in Sun Belt Conference action Saturday night at Kiefer Lakefront Arena.

The Privateers (14-13, 8-6 SBC) held the Pioneers to a season-low 27 percent (15-of-56) shooting night from the field, and harassed Denver (8-18, 3-11) into missing 13 of its 16 3-point attempts.

Senior forward Sherman Rochell (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Northern Oklahoma College) led the Pioneers with a game-high-tying 14 points. Junior guard B.J. Pratt (San Antonio, Texas / Converse Judson HS) added 14 points for the Pioneers, who have now lost three straight.

The Privateers started on a 6-0 run, yet Rochell hit three straight buckets to tie the score at 6-6 with 16:08 to play in the first half. Romero didn't get his first basket of the game until over 11 minutes had elapsed, yet it put UNO up 15-10. Freshman guard Erik Benzel (Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS) hit a 3-pointer the next time down to trim the lead to 15-13, yet UNO went on a 7-3 run.

The Privateers had a huge 13-5 rebounding edge at this point, and with the help of three straight Justin Lauga jumpers and back-to-back buckets from Kentrell Martin, UNO extended its lead to 30-16 to complete a 10-0 run with 2:01 left in the half. The Privateers took a 37-21 halftime lead when A.J. Meredith completed a 3-point play.

New Orleans went on a 9-4 run to start the second half, yet a 9-1 Denver run trimmed the Privateer lead to 13 points at 47-34 with 10:57 to play. The Pioneers would make just two of their next eight shots, however, and a pair of Romero free throws bumped the UNO lead back to 20 with 6:30 left.

New Orleans escaped Denver with a 74-73 last-second win in Denver on Feb. 10, yet the Privateers controlled Saturday's game from the outset, hitting nearly 60 percent of their shots in the opening half.

"We played with a lot more emotion and intensity in Denver," said head coach Terry Carroll, "but New Orleans had all the intensity tonight. We missed a lot of shots tonight, and when we miss shots, it takes a lot out of our game, we lose confidence and we lose focus. The one good thing is that we got a game in on the same floor that we're going to play on in six days, so hopefully we'll be a little more comfortable on Friday."

The Pioneers have earned the No. 5 West Division seed for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and will open play this Friday, March 1, at 11:30 a.m. CST vs. No. 4 East seed Arkansas State.