DENVER—Andrew Hooper had his shot going before Saturday night’s game with Louisiana-Monroe. The Denver junior wasn’t about to let it end before the game started.
“My shot has been going,” Andrew Hooper said. “I shot pretty well the last game, before this one and it carried into this game.”
Andrew Hooper matched a career-high with 19 points and Denver shot 71 percent to defeat Louisiana-Monroe 87-65 Saturday night.
“Before the game, Andrew drilled seven shots in a row,” Denver coach Joe Scott said. “That’s what he does and the best thing about Andrew is that’s what he does in the games.”
Andrew Hooper hit 5 of 5 3-pointers and Denver (8-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) had a season-high 13 3’s.
“When I hit my first and second shots, I know I have some confidence in my shot,” he said. “That’s when I know how well I will be shooting.”
The Pioneers had another milestone. Their 71 percent shooting was second in school shooting only to a 76 percent shooting performance on Feb. 12, 1988 against the University of Colorado Springs.
“We are a good offensive team,” Scott said. “Whenever we take care of the ball, we get good shots and we have guys who can score, whether it’s a long shot or it’s on a drive or a post up.”
Nate Rohnert added 16 points and Brian Stafford 14. The Pioneers beat Louisiana-Monroe for the fourth straight time.
Dynile Forbes led Louisiana-Monroe (3-8, 0-2 Sun Belt) with 21 points. Tony Hooper had 15 for the Warhawks, who suffered their fifth straight loss.
The Warhawks shot 50 percent from the field.
“They executed unbelievably tonight and they made shot after shot,” Warhawks’ coach Orlando Early said. “Hats off to Joe Scott and his guys because even when we got there to contest a few of them, they were able to execute and make their shots.”
Chase Hallam’s 3-pointer, part of Denver’s 7-0 run at the start of the second half, increased the Pioneers advantage to 14, 49-35. Two free throws by Tommie Sykes got the Warhawks back to within nine, 53-44. Andrew Hooper’s fourth 3-pointer of the game, coming with 13:04 left, sent Denver’s lead to back up 13, 58-45.
Hooper’s fifth trey made it a 66-48 game with 8:52 remaining. The Warhawks got as close as 66-53 on two free throws by Colby Carr, but Rohnert’s layup and four straight points from Rob Lewis pushed the lead back to 72-53 at the 5:35 juncture.
“Hooper was on. He hit the shots and we kept going to him,” Rohnert said. “We have a lot of guys who can score.”
Denver finished with five players scoring in double-digits.
The Warhawks were hot in the first half, shooting 58 percent. Denver was even hotter, 64 percent.
The Pioneers made 8 of 14 3’s while building a 42-35 lead at the half. Rohnert’s short jumper gave Denver their biggest lead of the half, 40-28, but the Warhawks closed the gap to seven when Sykes muscled in a layup with 34 seconds left
