ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. --- The ULM men's basketball team went shot-for-shot with the Sun Belt Conference's top offensive squad, but in the end came up one point short in a 71-70 loss inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by one point with under a minute remaining, Brandon Hazzard hit a deep shot to finish with a team-high 13 points for Troy (9-10, 4-3 Sun Belt). The shot gave the Trojans a 69-67 advantage in the game's waning seconds

Originally ruled a two, Hazzard's shot with 31 seconds on the clock was reversed to a trey a timeout and two possessions later ? a move that would provide the Trojans the extra insurance they would need in a game that went to the wire.

ULM (5-13, 1-6 Sun Belt) turned the ball over with less than 20 seconds remaining and Michael Vogler was fouled and sent to the free throw line. The Hazzard shot was changed and Vogler hit both free throw attempts to push the Troy lead to four points with under 16 seconds remaining.

Junior Malcolm Thomas finished with a game-high 20 points, his second-consecutive game to hit the mark, while sophomore Lawrence Gilbert finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds including a three-pointer with three seconds remaining that cut the deficit to one point.

The Warhawks opened the game cold from the field, going 0-for-8 in the first four minutes and allowing the Trojans to build a 9-0 lead. ULM would respond and, over the next nine minutes and hit 10-of-13 shots to stake a 27-23 lead with 6:59 remaining in the opening period.

Thomas scored all 10 of his first half points during the stretch.

ULM looked like it would start to pull away on several occasions, but each time would see Troy hit a trey to stop the run. The Trojans converted on six 3-point attempts in the opening period to enter the lockers trailing by four points at 40-36.

The second half featured eight ties and five lead changes with neither team capable of staking an advantage of more than five points. Troy took the lead for the final change on Hazzard's shot.