Buoyed by a two-game winning streak, the UNO men’s basketball team jumped out to a quick 23-6 lead on Nicholls State on Thursday at Lakefront Arena.

There were a few nervous moments down the stretch, but the Privateers held on, reversing a 25-point loss in Thibodaux on Feb. 9 days with another pivotal 88-82 victory on Senior Night.

Alone at the bottom of the Southland Conference seven days ago when it had lost nine in a row, UNO (9-18, 6-10) moved past three teams into seventh place with two games to play. That is a huge deal in a 10-team league in which only the top eight will qualify for the Southland tournament. Lamar, Incarnate Word and McNeese State all lost Thursday night, paving the Wave for the Privateers’ rise.

“We were in a pretty deep valley, and we had to come closer together,” coach Mark Slessinger said. “We had to figure out how to get out of that. When you hit adversity, the only way to get out of it is by working out of it. You can’t hope your way out of it. It really tested everyone in our program, our faith and everything about it.”

The streak coincided with the return of leading scorer Jordan Johnson from a knee injury that sidelined him for five games. He poured in a career-high 26 points while hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers, giving UNO the instant offense it lacked when he was out. The Privateers have taken down Texas A&M-Commerce, co-leader Northwestern State and Nicholls consecutively, avenging earlier defeats in each case.

Nicholls (14-14, 9-7) lost for the third time in four games and fell into a tie for fourth, putting it in danger of losing the bye in the tournament that goes to the third and fourth-place teams.

UNO never trailed, leading for the final 38:30. 

Johnson, who is second among all Division I players in 3-point accuracy (48.7%), was the primary reason the Privateers stayed in front. When the Colonels pulled within 72-66 at the 4:58 mark, he tried to set up teammates for an easy basket but the ball ended up back in his hands, and he swished a 3 with a defender right on him.

The next time down the court, he sank a step-back 3.

“He’s shooting with such confidence,” Slessinger said. “His teammates get him the ball at the right time. They love to screen for him and do the things they are supposed to do.”

With UNO having lost a 22-point second-half lead to McNeese State in its last home game, even the late cushion did not feel totally comfortable. Nicholls closed the gap to 78-72 and had a chance to get closer, but Latrell Jones missed two lay-ups after stealing an inbounds pass. Johnson then drained his final 3 to make the score 81-72 with 2:15 left.

A 3-point play from Marek Nelson cut the margin to 87-82 with 31 seconds left, and another steal in the backcourt set up Jalen White for a 3 from the corner. He missed it.

When Nicholls’ Lance-Amir Paul was off target on a 3-pointer that would have cut the deficit to 3 with 12 seconds left, coach Austin Claunch called off his press and conceded the outcome.

Jamond Vincent scored 20 points for UNO, tying the career high he set last Thursday against Texas A&M-Commerce, and added a team-high 11 rebounds. K’mani Doughty contributed 12 points off the bench.

“It just took some time for us to really jell and trust each other,” Vincent said. “That was the biggest thing. Once all that came together, we started playing better as a team.”

UNO was on pace for 100 points after 10 minutes, with six players scoring. The Colonels were as cold as the Privateers were hot, missing eight of their first nine shots. They trailed by double digits for much of the first half, fell behind by 19 early in the second and did not get within single figures until after the 7:00 mark.

Forward Marek Nelson led Nicholls with 20 points and 12 rebounds, but the Colonels missed their first 10 3-pointer and did not heat up until it was too late.

Nicholls closes with home games against Houston Christian and Lamar, while UNO travels to Lamar and McNeese State.