Photo by: Jacob Rokeach
Once again, it was a difficult week for the struggling Pioneer men’s basketball team. The Pioneers earned their 22nd and 23rd losses of the season as they dropped a pair of SBC games last weekend at Magness Arena.
On Thursday, the Pioneers couldn’t get past a strong shooting performance by North Texas University and lost 78-65. It didn’t get much better when the Pioneers played on Saturday, when the Pioneers fell just short of earning their fifth win of the season with a narrow 67-65 loss to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Pioneers came out sluggish at the beginning of Thursday night’s contest, and NTU Mean Green (17-9, 8-7 SBC) took full advantage.
NTU shot a blistering 53.1 percent from the floor in the first half, which included an impressive 8-21 on three pointers, putting the Pioneers into an early hole.
Before Pioneer junior center Adam Tanner drained a three point shot with 6:32 remaining, NTU had scored 12 straight points, building a 19 point lead.
However, the Pioneers did end the first half on a 12-4 run, decreasing the NTU lead to 10, giving them a faint sense of hope heading into halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Pioneers came out with a new found enthusiasm. Senior forward Antonio Porch hit an early layup and Tanner buried another three pointer to bring the lead back down to seven points with 17:55 left to play.
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the seven point deficit would be as close as they ever came to upending NTU, as the Mean Green continued their hot shooting, thwarting any hope of a DU comeback.
The Pioneers, who shot a meager 34.4 percent on the night, were no match for the Mean Green’s depth and balance, as they had five players score in double figures.
Tanner hit all five of the Pioneers three-point shots in the game and finished with a career high 21 points. Porch finished with his first double-double of the season after notching 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The poor performance on Thursday gave the Pioneers very little momentum heading into their final home game of the season Saturday against the ULL Ragin’ Cajuns, as they once again fell behind early.
The Ragin’ Cajuns scored the first 12 points of the game before Tanner knocked down another three-pointer. ULL built their lead to 23-10 by the 10-minute mark of the first half.
The Pioneers then went on a run, by outscoring the Ragin Cajuns 22-10 for the rest of the half, trimming the ULL lead to 35-32 at the break.
The second half started with back and forth scoring for both teams. Then, with 13:35 remaining, ULL went on a 10-0 run, bringing their lead to 11 and looking like they would pull away.
Not to be taken down so easily, the Pioneers fought back with a run of their own, and when sophomore guard Joe Jackson finished off a lay-up with 2:02 remaining, the Pioneers took their first lead of the game.
After ULL took the ball back down and connected on a jumper for a one-point lead, Jackson again hit a clutch shot, sinking a jumper for another Pioneer lead.
ULL answered quickly once again as Ragin’ Cajun guard Ross Mouton drained a three-point shot to put the lead up to two.
Now, with 33 seconds remaining, the Pioneers needed an answer, and once again it was Jackson.
Jackson, taking a pass from freshman guard Tyler Bullock, took one step into his defender and then dropped back to shoot a pretty left-handed fade-away jump shot to tie the game up at 65-65.
With only 18 seconds remaining, ULL could take all the time that they wanted to set up the final shot, and forward David Dees took full advantage, sinking a jumper with three seconds remaining.
After a buzzer shot by Bullock rimmed out, the Pioneers had to take another narrow loss.
Jackson, Tanner, and freshman Nate Rohnert led the Pioneers with 13 points a piece.
The Pioneers look to get one last win before entering the SBC tournament when they play their regular season finale at the University of Louisiana- Munroe Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.
