The Magness Arena scoreboard read 35-34 in favor of the Pioneers after 20 minutes of the DU men’s basketball team’s Thursday night match-up with the University of Arkansas- Little Rock. For that brief 15 minute half time, it appeared that the Pioneers might be turning their thus far dismal season around.
It didn’t take long for that hope to quickly fade, as a poor second half, leading to a 74-68 loss, followed by a dreadful 23-point loss to the University of New Orleans Saturday dropped the Pioneers’ record to 4-21.
After ending a four-game losing streak with a home win against Arkansas State on Super Bowl Sunday, the Pioneers looked to carry some much needed momentum into Thursday’s match-up with the 11-14 UALR Trojans.
The Pioneers started the game strong, as they swarmed the Trojans with impressive defense, forcing them into several turn overs.
It looked as though the Pioneers may be pulling away when seniors Antonio Porch and DeShawn Walker nailed a pair of threes to stretch the early DU lead to eight points midway through the first half.
But, the resilient Trojans battled back with strong post play to tie the game at 32-32 after a dunk by forward Lekheythan Malone with 3:20 left in the half.
The Pioneers fought back to regain the lead with just under two minutes left when Porch nailed a jumper from the left baseline.
Then, after some last second free throws from both teams, the Pioneers held a slim 35-34 lead going into the locker room.
When the ball was in bounded to start the second half, there seemed to be a transformation in the Pioneer team. After out-hustling and generally out-playing UALR in the first half, the Pioneers now appeared lethargic and unemotional.
Any momentum the Pioneers possibly gained from the first half was quickly lost as the Trojans took the lead after only 45 seconds and would never give it up the rest of the game.
The Pioneers were beat to loose balls, burned on defense and continually, and uncharacteristically, missed many free throws throughout the second half, as the Trojans poured in baskets increasing their lead to as many as 11 with only 1:24 left to play.
Though the Pioneers fought hard in the waning moments of the game, decreasing the Trojan lead to six, they could not overcome UALR and ultimately fell 74-68.
“They gave us some opportunities; they missed some free throws,” said Pioneer Head Coach Kevin Reynolds. “We just didn’t take advantage of the chances that we had.”
Walker led the Pioneers with a game-high 22 points, including an impressive 5-7 on three-point shots. Freshman guard Tyler Bullock was the only other Pioneer to reach double figures, as he chipped in 13.
Although Thursday night’s performance was pretty poor, it would only get worse for the Pioneers when they traveled to New Orleans for Saturday’s match up, where they have never won a game in school history.
The game started painfully for DU as they continually turned the ball over enabling UNO Privateers to start the game on an 18-5 run.
The Privateers would never look back, taking a 25 point lead into half time.
Though the Pioneers did outscore the Privateers by two points in the second half, they were unable to mount any sort of comeback, and wound up losing 89-66.
Walker once again led the Pioneers in scoring with 17 points.
Besides the play of Walker, the Pioneers did have one other significant highlight in the game, as Porch recorded his 1,000th point in his DU career, only two days after grabbing his 500th rebound.
The loss dropped the Pioneers to 4-21 (3-12 SBC). They will next be in action Thursday night at Magness Arena when they play host to North Texas at 7 p.m. MT.
