Thomas' 31 points leads New Orleans past LaGrange, 103-67

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Erik Thomas scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench to lead New Orleans to a 103-67 rout of Division III LaGrange College in the season opener Friday night.

Elijah Adedoyin, who finished with 15 points, drilled a 3-pointer to jump-start the Panthers, who held the lead for the first five minutes of the game and grabbed a 23-22 lead midway through the first half.

But the Privateers took a 10-point lead at intermission and out-scored LaGrange 58-32 in the second half.

Thomas was 11 of 15 from the field and grabbed nine of his 10 boards off the offensive glass.

Christavious Gill and Makur Puou added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for New Orleans, which shot 48.6 percent from the field (34 of 70) and converted 27 of 37 from the free throw line.

LaGrange was 23 of 64 from the floor, including 6 of 28 from distance.