Pilots Defeat SUNO at Home 97-92
January 17, 2004
The LSUS men's basketball team hosted the Southern University of New Orleans Knights (SUNO) Saturday night and were looking to improve upon their current 2-3 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference record. Coming into the contest Head Coach Chad McDowell knew his Pilots were in for a tough challenge. When the NAIA Division 1 National Top 25 poll came out last week, SUNO was in a familiar place ranked #7 in the country. After the Knights dropped a game last week they fell in the poll, but remained in the top 25. The Pilots however did not back down to there biggest challenge of the year.In the first half it was the Pilots who controlled the tempo and used a well balanced scoring attack to lead the entire first half. SUNO managed to cut a 15 point lead to 8 by the half, which saw the Pilots with a 47-39 advantage.
The second half began with the Knights making 14 of their first 15 field goal attempts. SUNO not only managed to erase the Pilot lead, they built a 12 point advantage of their own with 6 minutes to play in the half.
The Pilots however managed to overcome the 12 point deficit and came back to defeat the Knights 97-92. Fredericko Payne continued to lead the scoring for the Pilots as he poured in 28 points. The biggest basket of the night however came from Pilot guard Justin Collins when he drained a three point attempt in the dying minutes to put the Pilots ahead.
Every Pilot player on the night managed to score against the SUNO Knights. Travis Cash and Derrick Sowell finished with 16 points, and Derrick Rogers ended with 12. Other scorers for the Pilots were Freddy Hughes with 8, Abraham Saxson and Justin Collins had 7 a piece, Brandon Malveaux 2, and Chavis Rose finished with 1 free throw attempt made.
The Pilots will be in action again in Mobile, Alabama this Saturday and Monday. They will play the University of Mobile on Saturday and Springhill College on Monday. The Pilots next home game is January 29. They will host Central Baptist out of Conway, Arkansas.
