Photo by: Sports Media Relations
Two more games. Two more losses.
The Pioneers men’s basketball team (3-18, 2-9) suffered a heartbreaking 66-63 loss at Troy State on Thursday and then fell 77-67 at home on Saturday.
After winning two of three earlier this month, DU has now lost three straight.
“It definitely wears on you, but one thing we are doing is trying to learn from these losses and build for the rest of the season. These losses hurt but where we want to be playing our best ball is in the conference tournament,” said freshman Nate Rohnert.
The Pioneers had an 11-point lead earlier in the first half and a 32-31 halftime lead at Troy, but could not hang on during a 66-63 loss.
Denver was led by senior Alex Cox who scored a career-high 15 points and added seven assists. Freshman Tyler Bullock continued his outstanding season with 13 points and three rebounds and assists. Seniors Antonio Porch and DaShawn Walker added 11 and 10 points respectively in the loss.
“It’s tough, but it shows improvement, ever since Coach Reynolds took over. We have been carrying ourselves in a whole different way. We are in every game and step on the court ready to win,” said Bullock about the close loss.
It was a similar story on Saturday afternoon at Hamiliton gym as Denver led in the first half, but ended up on the lossing side. Western Kentucky held a 30-22 halftime lead and DU got within five with 8:12 remaining in the game, but once again took a tough loss.
“We got to give credit to them. They shot 78 percent in the second half, when you do that you are going to win a lot of games,” said Reynolds.
Tthe Pioneers have received some great play from their freshmen. Bullock recorded a game-high 20 points and Rohnert put in a career-high 17 in the losing effort.
“Tyler has been playing great. When you look at it, you are looking at one of the better freshmen in the league. I knew Nate was ready to go in shoot-around. It was nice to have them come out and give that type of performance,” said Reynolds.
Cox put together another nice game with 10 points and four assists, while Walker had nine points and four assists.
The Pioneers started Division I play during the 1999-2000 season, in which they were 6-22 overall and 3-14 in conference play. DU is currently 3-18 overall and 2-9 in Sun Belt play with seven regular-season games remaining.
“We are going to get it together. I can tell you that right now; we got a lot of guys that want to get to the post-season. When we figure out the combinations and rotations we are going to be a force to reckon with,” said Bullock.
Getting it together is what the team is close to doing as they have lost three straight games in a row, while having four players sitting out with injuries.
The Pioneers will next be in action on Thursday when they travel to take on Middle Tennessee State at 6 p.m. They will return home to host Arkansas State on Superbowl Sunday at 1 p.m.
