MONROE, La. -- Sophomore Trent Mackey hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining as ULM
came from behind to defeat Florida Atlantic 65-64 on Saturday inside Fant-Ewing
Coliseum.
ULM (2-7,
1-2 SBC) scored the final five points of the game and got a chance at the win
after FAU's Stefan Moody missed a
pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining. After freshman Kyle Koszuta missed a 3-pointer on the
ensuing possession, junior Marcelis
Hansberry pulled down the rebound and found Mackey open for his fifth
3-pointer of the game.
Mackey
finished with 19 points, including 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. The
Tampa, Fla., native has now knocked in five or more 3s in three straight games.
Junior forward Jayon James led the
Warhawks with a career-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds, two assists and
three steals. It marked James' third double-double of the season and his fifth
straight game with double-digit rebounds.
Mackey
and James took over down the stretch for the Warhawks in the second half as ULM
rallied from a 10-point deficit. Mackey hit a 3-pointer to ignite an 11-2 run
as ULM got within 56-55 with 3:30 to play.
A pair
of free throws and a clutch 3-pointer on the wing by Pablo Bertone pushed the Owls lead back to 61-55 and Florida
Atlantic led by four with 54 seconds remaining before ULM rallied for the win.
Greg Gantt led Florida Atlantic (6-8, 2-2 SBC) with
25 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Gantt scored 10 points during a 12-0 Florida Atlantic
run that gave the Owls a 40-30 advantage early in the second half. Bertone chipped
in 19 points and Jordan McCoy
contributed 14 points for FAU.
ULM led
for most of the first half and took a 28-26 advantage into the break - its first
lead at intermission this season.
ULM is
back in action on Thursday when it hosts South Alabama at 7:30 p.m. inside
Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Postgame Quotes from ULM Head Coach Keith
Richard
On
the victory:
"I'm so proud of those players.
I can't tell you how proud I am. They had every reason to quit in that last
half and just refused. It's a good lesson for us. We need to remember it's
never over and to just keep fighting and they did. We had one good crack to
take the lead and we did."
On
the play of Jayon James:
"There was no way around it the
way they were playing us defensively. We had to feed it to him because they
were letting us throw it in there basically. When a team does that, you don't
have another alternative and you have to go make some plays in there. He did
make some great plays. We had to remind him at half about how he was making
those plays. It wasn't from fall away shots. It was from tough man shots, and I
thought he really responded, especially in the second half."
On
the play of Trent Mackey:
"I had to remind him during the
course of the game about who he was. He has to shoot when he has an opening. I
thought even on a couple of misses, he had the right body language he has to
have when he shoots the ball."
