Feb. 26, 2005

Final Stats

DENVER - Senior guard Rodney Billups (Denver, Colo.) scored 18 points and had seven assists and junior center Yemi Nicholson (Denver, Colo.) tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the University of Denver men's basketball team to a 63-61 victory over Sun Belt Conference foe New Orleans Saturday night in Magness Arena. The Pioneers' win clinched the SBC West Division title in front of 3,060. Denver ends its regular season 18-9 overall and 12-3 in the SBC. The 18 wins are the most in the school's history since returning to the Division I level in 1998. The Pioneers finish the season with a perfect 8-0 record in the SBC at home. The Privateers loss drops them to 13-16, 7-8.

"This is a great accomplishment for us, but it's not where we ultimately want to be," head coach Terry Carroll said. "We need to now concentrate on what's ahead of us. My compliments go out to our seniors; they had great offensive and defensive games. Rodney probably had his best game of his career and hopefully he'll have another great week next week."

Billups and senior guard Erik Benzel (Spokane, Wash.) were honored for Senior Recognition Night. Billups tallied a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Benzel contributed eight points and six rebounds.

UNO jumped out to quick lead, holding Denver to only one basket in the first five minutes of play. Nicholson and junior guard Brett Seger (Omaha, Neb.) combined for five points to leave the Pioneers trailing 15-7, with 12:50 left to play. The Privateers capitalized on Denver's poor shooting and extended their lead to 14, putting the score at 24-10, with 7:45 left in the half. Nicholson scored six points in the last four minutes of the stanza to spark a 9-2 run for the Pioneers. Nicholson's dunk cut UNO's lead but left the Pioneers down 30-24 at the half. Denver shot 30.3 percent (10-33) from the field, their worst first-half shooting percentage of the season.

The Privateers tallied the first three points of the second half, before Denver opened 12-0 run. Two buckets apiece from Billups and Seger gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game, 36-35, with 15:11 remaining in the game. After four lead changes, Denver pulled away with two layups from sophomore forward Antonio Porch (Denver, Colo.) and a long-range bucket from Benzel. The Pioneers then held a 45-39 advantage, with 9:58 left in the game. UNO's Jamie McNeilly tried to stage a comeback for the Privateers, scoring five points in the next minute of the game, but tallies from Porch and Billups maintained a six-point lead for Denver.

Billups and Benzel each added another bucket a piece to give Denver a 59-55 advantage with 2:13 left in the game. The Privateers' James Parlow sunk back-to-back 3-pointers with just under a minute to cut Denver's lead to one. With 20 seconds to play, Billups made a free throw that gave Denver a 63-61 win, and the SBC West Division title.

Billups led all scorers with 18 points. Denver's Nicholson added 14 and Seger dropped in 11. Nicholson also grabbed 10 boards and forced a school-record nine blocks. Denver shot 42.1 percent (24-57) from the field, compared to UNO's 38.5 percent (25-65). Denver's defense forced the Privateers to commit 10 turnovers, while creating 10 blocks and six steals.

The Pioneers will begin SBC Tournament play on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. MT in Denton, Texas. Denver will play the winner of the No. 5 West (North Texas) versus No. 4. East (TBD) game, which will commence on Monday, Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m. MT.