ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. – Junior Tylor Ongwae matched his career-high in scoring and registered a double-double for the ULM men's basketball team, but Georgia State was able to stay unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference play with a 66-58 result on Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Ongwae posted 27 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season for ULM (6-9, 3-4 SBC). He went 10-of-16 from the field, 6-of-7 from the line and also tallied three assists and a steal.

He was one of three Warhawks to reach double-figures in the contest. Senior Jayon James notched 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks, while sophomore Daniel Grieves put in 10 points.

Georgia State (14-6, 7-0 SBC) was led by Ryan Harrow's 18 points and Devonta White's 17 points. R.J. Hunter, who entered the game leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring, had 13 points and Manny Atkins helped out with 11 points.

The Warhawks grabbed the early advantage, 11-5 with 15:22 left in the first half after a quick seven points from Ongwae.

Georgia State responded and took the 18-17 edge, but Coppola answered with a three-pointer to put ULM back on top 20-18 at the 8:28 mark. ULM used that to go on a 6-0 run and extended the lead to 23-18 after a basket and converted free throw by Ongwae with 4:28 to go.

After the Panthers cut it to a two-point game at 25-23, Ongwae hit a free throw to put the Warhawks up, 26-23. GSU's Ryan Harrow hit a three-pointer right before the buzzer to tie the game, 26-26 at halftime.

A 6-2 run got ULM the 32-28 lead in early in the second half. GSU responded and took the lead after back-to-back jumpers by Devonta White to go up 35-34 with 13:28 left in the game.

The Warhawks regained the lead, 40-35, after a 6-0 run was capped off by an old-fashion three-point play by Ongwae at the 12:05 mark. They extended the lead to 45-38 after a three-pointer by sophomore Daniel Grieves with 10:28 left.

Still leading 53-47, the Panthers went on a 6-0 run to tie the game as the Warhawks called timeout at the 5:22 mark. GSU led by four when Grieves hit a long-range shot to make it a 59-58 game with 1:38 left. The Panthers were able to hold the Warhawks off after shooting 81.0 percent (17-for-21) from the free throw line, including 14-for-17 in the second half.

The Warhawks will be back on the court on Thursday when they host Arkansas State at 7:00 p.m. in the final of a three-game homestand at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Support the Warhawks through participation in the Athletic Foundation, join the ULMAF by calling 318-342-5415. Be sure to cheer on your Warhawks in person; to purchase tickets, please call 318-342-3ULM or visit the athletic ticket homepage.

NOTES
- The Warhawks moved to 5-1 all-time against Georgia State with a 3-1 mark at home where they are 387-167 all-time

- ULM outscored Georgia State 34-26 in the paint

- Neither team scored a point off the bench

- The Warhawks shot 80 percent (8-for-10) from the free throw line for the second time this season

- Junior Tylor Ongwae has reached double-figures in 13 of 15 games this season and has reached that plateau in all seven conference games. He has also led the team in scoring in all seven league games. It marked his sixth 20-plus point performance and second double-digit rebounding game

- Senior Jayon James recorded his eighth double-figure scoring game of the year and 21st of his career. He set a season-high with two blocks and matched his season-high in minutes with 38

- Sophomore Daniel Grieves made his first career start and registered his third double-figure scoring game. He hit four field goals including a pair of threes and also grabbed a pair of rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes

- Freshman Nick Coppola played 40 minutes for the fourth consecutive game. He finished with three points, three rebounds and a pair of assists

- The game featured four ties and eight lead changes

- With 11 regular season games still remaining, ULM has already surpassed its win total by two games from last season and has matched its conference win total in conference play. ULM was 4-23 overall and 3-17 in SBC play last year

Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“We felt coming into the game that our only chance to win was to control tempo and get the game down in the 60s or early 70s (point total) and I think we were right in that point. We played zone for most of the game, which helped slow the game down. They are one of the best offensive teams in the country, really good guards, tremendous guards. We did a good job for most of the game on them. I'm really proud of our players for their effort. Their guards made plays on us in the last two minutes and we failed to make plays on our end. That's really what the game came down to. You could really compliment both teams on a great game, particularly our team, but when it comes down to a close game like that, especially with both teams playing zone, it comes down to making plays.  They went to the free throw line and we didn't and so they won. They're a good team."

On Tylor Ongwae
"He played good, but he's got a lot to learn, too. This is the part that he doesn't know about college basketball is that they won the game because they went to the free throw line. Tylor's got to get more efficient at going to the line. He's a good free throw shooter. He's the best free throw shooter on the team and you see where he's 1-for-7 from three-point range and he gets three-point happy sometimes. He doesn't understand about fouls, time, score and all those things and how critical it is to go to that free throw line, especially late-game situations, but he's learning. He's only played 15 games at the Division I level and he'll get better every time out."

On both teams lacking points off the bench
"When you play zone, you can do that. That's one of the reasons they play their 3-2 and 2-3 and they do what they do. We knew that coming into the game. We played our five starters almost the whole game, so I just thought going into this thing after looking at it was a good thing to match tempo was to do what they do. We'll just sit here and play half court basketball with a few fast breaks, and that's basically what we had. I really hoped that our team could make some plays at the end when it was close to try and win that thing, but we just didn't do it.  They did and they're a good team. They're a very good offensive team."

On Daniel Grieves' first start
"Everybody on our team needs to be ready to go. Daniel played really good in this game and I'm happy, but he may not play in the next game. There's no one guy so important to this team that we can't compete. We just proved it again. The flip side is we kind of need everybody from game to game and that's the truth of this team."