MONROE, La. – Junior Tylor Ongwae led the ULM men's basketball program with 12 points, but Texas State finished on top, 61-36 on Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Ongwae went 5-of-11 from the field for ULM (4-7, 1-2 SBC) and hit a pair of three-pointers. Senior Jayon James shot 4-for-8 for nine points.
Senior Amos Olatayo led the team on the boards with five rebounds.
Joel Wright propelled Texas State (5-11, 1-2 SBC) with a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds. Wes Davis pitched in with 14 points and Kavin Tilbury had 10.
Texas State opened the game on a 7-0 run, but the Warhawks quickly knotted it up, 11-11 after a lay-in by Ongwae at the 13:42 mark in the first half.
The Bobcats regained the lead 25-20 and went on a 6-0 run to extend it out to 31-20 with 4:36 remaining. Ongwae scored five consecutive points to cut it to a six-point deficit, but a lay-in by Joel Wright right before the buzzer put the Bobcats up 35-27 at the intermission.
Texas State scored the first five points of the second half to go up 40-27. The Warhawks made it an eight-point game at 40-32 after freshman Nick Coppola hit a three-pointer with 14:01 left in the game, but ULM could not get any closer.
The Warhawks will look to bounce back when they hit the road on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game against Troy. ULM will round out the weekend at South Alabama at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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NOTES
- ULM is now 25-17 all-time against Texas State with a 16-5 mark at home. The Warhawks have won six of the last eight meetings between the two teams at Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- Junior Tylor Ongwae registered his ninth double-figure scoring game of the season and has reached that plateau in all three conference games. He has also led the team in scoring in all three league games
- Senior Jayon James is shooting at a .680 clip (17-for-25) in conference play
- ULM outscored Texas State 9-4 in second chance points
- The Warhawks moved to 3-2 at home this season and 387-165 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- With 15 regular season games still remaining, the Warhawks have already matched their season win total from last season when they finished 4-23
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
"It was tough to watch. I give a lot of credit to Texas State, they really got after us from the get-go. We had a hard time holding them in the first half. They have a methodical approach and they're very physical. I don't think we matched it. We tried and fell for it. Texas State shot over 50 percent in the first half, and that kind of set the tone for the whole game. I'm obviously disappointed in the second half, as well, and more disappointed in our competitive spirit as the half went on. All in all, they really just ripped us from the get-go."
On next weekend
"I'm going to have to think about this one because we got spanked here today. I'm going to have to think about how to do this, whether that means personnel changes or just throw it up to one of those games and go back to the way we were going. I want to go back and evaluate this because this is the not-so-good ULM team. I've seen them both, the good one and the not-so-good one. The not-so-good one is tough to watch. It really struggles to score and not very active defensively. It's mind boggling and we'll evaluate it over the next 24 hours or so."
