SAN ANTONIO – A short-handed University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team gave everything it had into Monday night's game against New Orleans in the season home finale, but the Privateers walked away with an 88-72 victory. 

With both teams vying for a spot in the 8-team 2021 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Basketball Tournament heading into the final week of the regular season, the league announced it was expanding the tournament to 10-teams and signifying a lock for both teams during warm-ups. 

"This team really deserves a spot in the Conference Tournament, they have been battling all season and to be in the top-8 teams has been a goal for us all season. And for it to be the first time in school history is a real compliment to how hard they work." Dr. Cunningham said. 

UIW (8-11, 5-7 SLC) had a new look on the floor with Keaston Willis and GG Ezedinma not available and Marcus Larsson going down in the first two minutes of the game. It opened up an opportunity for others on the team to step up. Freshman Charlie Yoder did just that, scoring a team-high 10 points in the first half and leading all players on the court at the time.

UNO scored in bunches for much of the first half, but each time the Cardinals chased them down tying the game four times. Yoder's tough layup with eight minutes left in the half tied the game at 21. Brandon Swaby followed it up with a 2-pointer and Josh Morgan added a pair of free throws to give the Cardinals their first lead in the game, 25-21, with 7:27 to go. 

New Orleans was able to retain the lead on a pair of Troy Green free throws four minutes later and put the momentum back in the Privateers' favor as they closed on a 17-11 run to end the half with a 45-40 lead. 

UIW and UNO went shot for shot to open the second half before the visitors dug in after a bucket from Kmani Doughty started a 14-0 run that ate up four minutes of game time and gave the Privateers their largest lead of the night, 65-48, at that point. New Orleans would maintain their double-digit lead over UIW after that as the Cardinals ran out of steam in the end. 

Drew Lutz and Des Balentine led the charge offensively. Lutz scored a season-best 18 points as Balentine shot 50% (5-for-10) and was perfect from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points and added five assists with zero turnovers. Yoder pitched in with his first career double-digit scoring effort (12) and a start credited to his name as Josh Morgan, Brandon Swaby and Bradley Akhile all pitched in with six points apiece. 

Derek Van Vlerah also added seven points and a team-high eight rebounds for the red and black. 

New Orleans (7-14, 6-7 SLC) had five Privateers in double figures, led by Damion Rossier's 11-point, 12-rebounds double-double. Troy Green scored a team-high 18 points, Derek St. Helaire added 16 as Ahren Freeman scored 14 and Kmani Doughty finished with 11. 

COACH CUNNINGHAM SAID 
"We had to go with a new look and go a lot smaller and speed the pace of the game up tonight," Cunningham said after Larsson went down in the first two minutes and Willis not in the lineup. "I thought the team played well tonight, but you have to give credit to New Orleans, they were able to keep the pressure on and it proved too much." 

"It was nice to see Drew getting back to his true form and was really sharp tonight, Des had a great night and it was great to see the rest of the guys including Charlie step up to a challenging team." 

LOOKING AHEAD 
The Cardinals wrap up the regular season on the road against Houston Baptist on Wednesday, March 3 and at Abilene Christian on Saturday, March 6 before the 2021 Hercules Tires Southland Basketball Tournament kicks off on Tuesday, March 9 at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. 

Championship tickets can be purchased HERE.
For more information on the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament visit www.southland.org.

FOLLOW ALONG
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