The men’s basketball team yielded a rare home loss to Arkansas State by a score of 73-72 in overtime on Thursday evening, but redeemed themselves with a come-from-behind victory over the University of Louisiana-Monroe 58-47 on Sunday in Magness Arena.
After coming off a heartbreaking double overtime loss at home to the University of Louisiana-Layfayette, the Pioneers sought redemption against the nearby Redwolves (10-4, 2-1SBC), who are currently No. 2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Pioneers entered Thursday night’s game against the Redwolves with a record of 7-9, having gone 5-3 since the start of December.
In overtime, the Redwolves and Pioneers swapped baskets until it was tied 73-73 with less than a minute remaining, at which point ASU’s Donald Boone sank two free throws with ten seconds left on the clock.
Junior guard Nate Rohnert carried the Pioneers with a career high of 28 points. Freshman guard Brian Stafford added 12 points to the tally, while sophomores Rob and Kyle Lewis-of no relation-each knocked in 10 points for the Denver men.
“Our defense was bad,” said head coach Joe Scott. “And we didn’t seem ready to play, and that affected us all the way to the end. I did think we did a better job in the second half. We gave ourselves numerous chances, but we had a couple crucial mistakes on defense and some turnovers.”
After failing to match the initial intensity of the Redwolves, the Pioneers recovered from a slow start to keep the game close throughout the first half. While they managed to build lead of six points with 13 minutes remaining in the first half, the unerring three-point shooting of the Redwolves prevented the Pioneers from building a comfortable lead. DU and ASU exchanged the lead three more times before the half ended, with the Redwolves leading 42-37 after a buzzer-beating three-pointer by the Redwolves Donald Boone.
In the second half, the Redwolves maintained a single-digit lead over the Pioneers until a lay-up by Rohnert gave the Pioneers their first lead of the half with six minutes remaining. After losing the lead shortly after, the Pioneers scored the last four points of regulation to tie the game 65-65 and send it to overtime.
In overtime, Pioneers took an early three-point lead but could not retain it in the face of Boone’s overtime heroics. Boone scored all 10 of the Redwolves overtime points, including his two game-winning free throws.
Fulfilling their hopes to break their three-game losing streak, the Pioneers defeated the University of Louisiana-Monroe this past Sunday by a score of 58-47. Rohnert and redshirt freshman forward Andrew Hooper led the Pioneers (7-9, 2-3) with 14 points apiece against the Warhawks (5-11, 1-4).
“I thought it was a different kind of game for us after three excruciatingly hard losses in a row,” Scott said. “Monroe’s plan was to come in and slow us down and keep their team in the game, and they did a good job of that in the first half. We actually had to change our game a little bit and speed up and get the ball up the court faster. I really think our guys really responded well in the second half, and it wasn’t just one guy. It was everybody.”
In the first half, both teams battled intensely to establish a lead, but after three ties and two lead changes, the Warhawks led by only 24-23 at the half.
The first seven minutes progressed much like the entire first half as DU and the Warhawks continued to swap baskets in this defense oriented game.
Eventually, with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game, Travis Hallam began a 16-2 Denver rally with back-to-back downtown trey-bombs that eventually put the Pioneers ahead 45-35. Feeding off of Hallam’s sharpshooting exhibition, the Pioneers locked up a double-digit lead for almost the rest of the game.
After dropping a winnable overtime game on Thursday night, the Pioneers-officially the youngest team in the country with an average age of 18.9-demonstrated that with their youth comes great reserves of resilience.
Up next on the hardwood for the Pioneers are the University of North Texas on Thursday and Florida International University on Saturday.
