If nothing else, they are consistent.
The Denver men are 1-8 on the road, but 7-0 under the friendly gold tower of the Ritchie Center. The Pioneers (11-9, 4-3 Sun Belt) are 3-1 on neutral courts this season.
DU returned home from an 0-3 road trip and got back to its winning ways Thursday night, beating West Division leader South Alabama 69-60 at Magness Arena. The Pioneers had balanced scoring, getting 48 points from DaShawn Walker (17), Yemi Nicholson (16) and David Kummer (15).
It was the Pioneers’ 15th consecutive win at home dating to last season. Coming into the game, DU had the country’s ninth-longest home winning streak.
“We don’t have an answer for that,” Kummer said of the discrepancy between DU’s home and road success. “We seem to get it going here in the second half, but we’ve just been struggling on the road, playing about 30 or 35 good minutes, but we have lapses.”
Denver had another good second half at home, outscoring South Alabama (13-5, 4-2) 43-33. But the Pioneers had a major lapse early, shooting just 31 percent from the field in the first half.
Nicholson was charged with two early fouls and played just seven minutes in the first half, and senior guard Andrew Carpenter left the game with a knee injury when South Alabama led 12-9.
Still, the Jaguars led only 27-26 at the break – mostly because DU swingman Brett Seger made each of his three 3-pointers late in the half.
“We kind of went through a little turmoil there, but were ready to rebound in the first five minutes of the second half,” Kummer said.
After Kummer’s three-point play to begin the second half gave DU its first lead, the teams traded leads 14 consecutive times before the Pioneers took control with three minutes to play. Walker hit a 3-pointer to make it 60-55, and a Nicholson dunk began an 8-0 run to give DU a 10-point lead with 1:07 to go.
“Tremendous team win,” DU coach Terry Carroll said. “We had a lot of guys come through with huge plays.”
Footnotes
Carpenter has started every game in his 51-game DU career. … The Pioneers host Troy (10-8, 3-3) on Saturday.
SOUTH ALABAMA (13-5, 4-2 Sun Belt)
Buboltz 3-4 0-0 6, McGriff 2-8 0-0 4, Jointer 7-16 1-1 16, Christie 5-14 0-1 10, Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Phillips 1-6 2-2 4, Collins 3-4 0-1 6, Bennett 3-8 0-0 7, Cowherd 1-5 1-2 4, Grigsby 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 26-71 4-7 60.
DENVER (11-9, 4-3 Sun Belt)
Walker 5-13 4-4 17, Kummer 6-11 3-3 15, Nicholson 7-14 2-4 16, Wetrich 1-4 7-10 9, Carpenter 0-1 0-0 0, Porch 0-3 0-0 0, Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Gordon 0-1 1-2 1, Seger 3-7 2-3 11. Totals 22-54 19-26 69.
Halftime – South Alabama 27-26. 3-point goals – South Alabama 4-27 (Grigsby 1-2, Bennett 1-3, Cowherd 1-5, Jointer 1-7, Collins 0-1, Buboltz 0-1, Smith 0-3, Christie 0-5); Denver 6-17 (Seger 3-6, Walker 3-6, Kummer 0-1, Porch 0-1, Carpenter 0-1, Wetrich 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – South Alabama 41 (Jointer 8); Denver 43 (Nicholson 11). Assists – South Alabama 12 (Jointer 4); Denver 12 (Seger 3). Total fouls – South Alabama 23; Denver 13. A – 1,789.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
