DENVER—Bo McCalebb generally impresses teams with his offense. The Sun Belt Conference’s leading scorer and New Orleans guard was equally impressive as a defender in a critical game against Denver.
“The can shoot and score,” Denver center Adam Tanner said. “We saw tonight that he’s a pretty good defender.
McCalebb scored 22 points as New Orleans pulled within a game of the leaders in the Sun Belt West Division with a 60-54 victory over Denver Sunday night.
The senior, who averages 23 points a game also contributed to several defensive stops when Denver got within a point of the Privateers twice late in the game.
“He’s going to get his points, but I thought his defense tonight was good,” New Orleans coach Joe Pasternack said. “I thought Bo had his best defensive game of the year. He was awesome defensively.”
McCalebb hit his first four shots before finishing 7-for-14 and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. James Parlow added 10 points for New Orleans (18-10, 8-8 Sun Belt).
“We knew the importance of this game and we knew we needed to get this win,” McCalebb said. If we lost this game, who’d know where our season would have gone.”
The Privateers trail division tri-leaders Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas-Little Rock and North Texas by a game with two games remaining in the regular season.
There were other benefits that went with the victory. The Privateers posted their ninth road win of the year, matching the school record accomplished by the 1992-93 team that went on to the NCAA Tournament.
New Orleans completed a sweep of Denver this year and has won the last five meetings between the two teams.
Adam Tanner led Denver (11-16, 7-9) with 18 points. Rob Lewis had 13 points before fouling out with five minutes and 12 seconds left.
“We have to be able to play hard for 40 minutes,” Denver coach Joe Scott said. “We missed shots in the second half that we needed to make.”
Tanner’s 3-pointer put Denver up 35-32 early in the second half, but Ben Elias’ layup capped a 12-0 run for the Privateers and gave them the lead, 44-35, with 13:34 to play. Joe Jackson got the Pioneers back within 48-47 with 4:30 left before New Orleans pulled away again.
Rob Lewis and Tanner scored 10 points each and Denver capitalized on the absence of McCalebb for the last six minutes of the first half to lead 30-29. The Pioneers outscored New Orleans 12-6 after McCalebb picked up his second foul and went out with six minutes remaining.
