Photo by: Michael Furman
A huge weight has been lifted off the shoulders of the DU men’s basketball team as they came together to defeat Arkansas State University 73-53 on Saturday and eliminated their 43 away game losing streak, which dated back to March 5, 2006.
“To win a road game felt really good for the whole team. It was definitely one of our goals this year,” sophomore Rob Lewis said. “I don’t know what it is that has made it so hard for us. We’ve had so many chances to do it, so it was just nice to get over that hump and win a game by a pretty good margin on the road.”
Lewis led the Denver victory with a double-double effort, scoring 16 points and 13 rebounds. Lewis was aided by junior guard Nate Ronhert. Ronhert amassed 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Freshman Brian Stafford scored 18 points.
DU shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half, including 80 percent from three-point range, while holding ASU to 35 percent from the field. The dominating play of the Pioneers continued in the second half as they maintained the lead for the remainder of the game.
“Our team has definitely progressed during the past few weeks, but more importantly we have grown by leaps and bounds over the course of the whole season. I feel like our team has a great level of trust between everyone and we know that we can count on each other to do the job that we are supposed to do on the court,” Lewis said.
On Thursday, Lewis and Rohnert once again led the Pioneers to a victory at Magness Arena against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, 55-51. Lewis and Rohnert combined for 26 points in the effort.
The Pioneers overcame 18 turnovers by shooting 60 percent from the field, while the Ragin’ Cajuns went 37.2 percent, including a team-high 12 points from Randall Daigle.
“I feel like we played okay against Lafayette Thursday,” Lewis said. “We turned the ball over a lot and didn’t shoot all that well, but our defense was really good.”
The victory was hard fought throughout as the game was determined by Denver’s nine consecutive free throws to put the Cajuns out of reach.
The Pioneers will play their final regular season road game this Thursday at 6 p.m. against the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
