Denver Gains First SBC Road Win
Chase Hallam stars with 19 points and six rebounds

NEW ORLEANS – Freshman Chase Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) scored a career-high 19 points to lead Denver to a 53-45 win over New Orleans in Sun Belt Conference action at Lakefront Arena. Denver earned its first SBC road win of the season and improves to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the SBC. New Orleans falls to 8-19, 3-13 SBC.

“I really like the way we are playing right now,” DU head coach Joe Scott said. “We overcame a lot of adversity tonight to get this road win. All of our players have been getting better and it was nice our senior Nate Rohnert played at his best when it mattered tonight.”

Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) added 17 points, including 10 late in the second half, and a career-best 13 rebounds as DU won for the first time ever in New Orleans.

DU led 20-10 at the half by outplaying UNO and turning in a stellar defensive effort. Chase Hallam scored 10 points, including DU’s first eight. The Pioneers held the Privateers to a paltry 2-for-17 from the floor, but went 2-of-12 from three-point range, and missed three layups and five charity attempts.

UNO went on an 8-0 run to start the second half, but five points from Travis Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) and a three-pointer from Justin Coughlin (Yuma, Colo.) gave DU a 28-22 lead.

The Privateers cut the DU lead to 39-38, but eight free throws by Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) and four points from Chase Hallam in the last four minutes iced DU’s first SBC road win.

Denver returns to action at South Alabama on Feb. 25. The Pioneers close out the regular season against Louisiana Lafayette on Feb. 27.