New Orleans beats Houston Baptist 79-66

Jan 23, 2014, 10:59 pm

HOUSTON -- Christavious Gill scored 18 points Thursday night and New Orleans beat Houston Baptist 79-66 by outshooting them from the free-throw line.

Isaac Mack scored 13 and Cory Dixon and Tevin Broyles had 10 apiece for New Orleans.

Gill's trey put New Orleans (6-9, 3-4 Southland) up 17-13 and the Privateers ripped a 13-2 run to lead 32-19, but Houston Baptist (4-15, 1-6) had a 15-1 run and led 36-35 at halftime.

Mack's back-to-back jumpers in the second half made it 49-45 and Tradarrius McPhearson's jumper at 10:51 gave the Privateers a nine-point edge. The Huskies made it a two-point game with a 7-0 run, but Dixon's dunk and a 15-0 run gave New Orleans a commanding 72-59 lead.

Caleb Crayton led Houston Baptist with 14.

New Orleans was outshot 51 percent to 47.4 percent, but made 20 of 25 free throws to Houston Baptist's 9 of 17.