NACOGDOCHES, Texas ? A furious rally by the ULM men's basketball team came up just short Wednesday night as the team fell, 71-68, against Stephen F. Austin in Johnson Arena.
“We battled back into the game,” ULM head coach Orlando Early said. “We found a way to defend and rebound in the second half. When I think about the game, we made some costly mistakes throughout the game. Those are the little things that we have to work on to get better.”
ULM (1-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half only to fight back only to cut the lead to two in the last minute of the game. With 18 seconds remaining the Warhawks forced a missed shot, but couldn't control the rebound and was forced to send the Lumberjacks to the line.
Nick Shaw pulled in the board for the Lumberjacks, his 16th of the game and passed out to the perimeter to drain precious seconds from the clock.
After missing on his first shot, SFA guard Gerald Fonzie scored his only point of the game on the second to give the Lumberjacks the three-point lead. A desperation three by senior Jordan Payne was wide left giving SFA (3-1, 0-0 Southland) the hotly contested victory.
ULM struggled in the first half containing the front court of the Lumberjacks, allowing the bigs to score 53 of the teams 71 points. Led by 18 from center Matt Kingsley, SFA was able to get sophomore Afam Nweke and freshman Raphelle Turner in foul trouble early in the first half. ULM was able to stay close thanks to 13-of-25 free throw shooting from the Lumberjacks in the game.
After the Warhawks took a one point lead at 5-4 the Lumberjacks rattled off 10 straight points for a 14-5 advantage with 13:31 remaining in the half. Sophomore Brandon Roberts ended the SFA run with a 3-point shot in the corner to make it 14-8 and the Warhawk offense started to heat up. ULM went on a 15-4 run, capped by a Hooper jumper in the paint to take the lead at 20-19.
Hooper scored 10 of the Warhawks next 13 points to keep ULM up on the scoreboard.
ULM would lead by as many as four points in the first half before Stephen F. Austin scored 12 of the final 16 points of the half to take a 38-34 advantage into the locker rooms.
The Warhawk offense came out of intermission cold, connecting on four of its first 14 shots to allow the Lumberjacks to build a 57-43 lead with 12:38 remaining in the game.
ULM stiffened defensively in the second, holding the Lumberjacks to 11-of-30 shooting from the field to climb back into the game, only to see the rally fall short.
Payne led ULM back, converting nine straight free throws to finish with 15 points in the game. Junior Tony Hooper scored a season-high 23 points in the contest to lead all scorers.
The Warhawks return to action on Saturday, November 24 when they wrap up their five-game stretch away from Fant-Ewing Coliseum against Ole Miss at 2 p.m. ULM's game against the Rebels will be broadcast live on KLIP 105.3 with live stats available at www.ULMathletics.com.
