ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. – In a game that featured 11 ties and 14 lead changes, the ULM men's basketball program pulled out a heart-stopping 103-98 double-overtime victory over UL-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

The Warhawks (4-5, 1-0 SBC) took it to the Ragin' Cajuns (9-5, 0-1 SBC) in double overtime, scoring 18 points in the five-minute period. They broke an 87-87 tie with a decisive 8-0 run to pull ahead 95-87 with 1:24 remaining. ULM hit its final seven free throws to ice the game.

Junior Tylor Ongwae registered career-highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Senior Jayon James also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, the sixth of his career. He scored seven of his points in the first overtime period.

ULM tallied a season-high five double-figure scorers as junior Marvin Williams pitched in with 16 points, and seniors Amos Olatayo and R.J. McCray put in 16 and 11, respectively.

ULL's Elfrid Payton etched a triple-double with a game-high 34 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Shawn Long also heavily aided the attack with 21 points and Steven Wronkoski had 11 points including a trio of three-pointers.

The teams went back-and-forth in the early minutes. Ongwae got the scoring going with a dunk, but the Cajuns responded with their only lead of the half at 4-2. The Warhawks held a slight 16-14 advantage when they went on an 8-0 run to go up 24-14 with 9:04 left in the half after a lay-in by Ongwae. The Warhawks extended their lead to 27-16 with 7:25 remaining.

ULL came within four points in the first half at 32-28, but a put-back by Olatayo gave ULM a 34-28 lead heading into the half. Ongwae notched 11 points and four rebounds in the first half, while Olatayo registered nine points and three rebounds.

The Cajuns opened the second half on a 13-5 run to spurt ahead, 41-37 at the 16:02 mark. The Warhawks jumped back ahead, 49-48 after a steal and transition dunk by Ongwae with 11:37 remaining.

Tied at 49, ULM reeled off a three-point play by R.J. McCray and a lay-in by Jayon James to go up 54-49, forcing the Cajuns to call timeout with 10:13 left. The Warhawks got their lead back out to 11, 63-52 with 6:25 left in regulation but the Cajuns would not go away and cut it to a three-point game at 65-62 with 3:34 left.

The Warhawks were clinging to a 72-69 advantage with three seconds left when ULL's Xavian Rimmer was fouled shooting a three-pointer. Rimmer capitalized on all three foul-shots. ULM had one last chance in regulation as Olatayo was found open on a home-run pass, but the finish rimmed out.

In the first overtime period, James stepped up with seven of the team's 11 points as ULM led 83-81 with 1:01 left. After a three-pointer by Wronkoski, James answered with a jumper to put the Warhawks up one with 33 seconds left. ULL's Payton was fouled after an offensive rebound with 15 ticks remaining and hit one-of-two free throws to tie it, 85-85. On ULM's final possession of overtime, Ongwae attempted a deep three-pointer at the buzzer that came just short.

After ULL scored the first two points of double overtime, ULM responded with a 10-0 run to go up 95-87 with 1:24 remaining. The Cajuns cut it to a three-point game, but ULM was able to seal the deal at the free throw line.

ULM will be back in action on Thursday when it travels to UT-Arlington for a noon tip-off. It will return home on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 4:00 p.m. when it hosts Texas State.

NOTES
- ULM had two student-athletes record a double-double in one game for the first time since Dec. 22, 2009 when Rudy Turner and Tony Hooper did it against Harding

- The Warhawks won their first double overtime game since Jan. 5, 1989 when they defeated Northwestern State 108-102. It was their first double OT game since Dec. 16, 2003 when they played at Baylor

- ULM scored over 100 points in a game for the first time since Nov. 27, 2007 when it also poured in 105 against Alcorn State

- ULM held advantages over ULL in rebounding (54-44), blocks (11-4), points in the paint (58-36), second chance points (19-12), fast break points (14-4) and points off the bench (24-16)

- It marked the first time the Warhawks had 10 or more blocks in a game since Dec. 2, 2006 against William Carey

- ULM is 1-0 in conference play for the first time since 2006-07 when it won the SBC West Division

- The Warhawks improved to 3-1 this season at home and have outscored the opposition 334-294 in those games. ULM is now 387-164 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum

- Junior Tylor Ongwae posted his seventh double-figure scoring game on the year and his second 20-plus game. Along with points and rebounds, Ongwae set career-highs in field goals (11) blocks (3) and minutes (46)

- Senior Amos Olatayo registered his seventh double-figure scoring game of the year and rejected a career-high five blocks. It was his 24th double-digit game of his career. He also played a career-high 45 minutes

- Senior Jayon James tallied his fifth double-figure scoring game of the season and 18th of his career. James also matched his career-high with 12 rebounds, previously set on Dec. 29, 2013 versus Florida Atlantic

- Senior R.J. McCray put in a season-high 11 points, his first double-figure scoring game of the season and 12th of his career

- Senior Millaun Brown turned in season-highs of eight rebounds, five points and 18 minutes

- The Warhawks have scored at least 80 points in all four of their wins this season. They improved to 2-0 in overtime games on the year after defeating Northwestern State 84-80 (OT) on Nov. 21. ULM improved to 41-40 all-time in overtime games and 21-12 at home

Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
"We had seven or eight days of practice, but we've been out of school and were able to do a lot of film work. That provided us an opportunity to look at ourselves. We went back over all of the games we played and practice film. I think we got a lot better, but not just because we won the game tonight but we were more competitive from start to finish and that is what we were trying to do."

On winning in overtime and ULM making clutch plays
"I told the team two things after the game. Number one: I was happy for them because they took what we practiced to the floor. Our scouting report, they executed well the whole game and stuck with it and all the things we talked about during the week. The second thing was that I was happy for Jayon (James) that we won because that was a bonehead play, fouling the 3-point shooter. He can't get up in the air. We were switching to defend the shot and take it away but you can't get up in the air because the officials call it every time. I'm glad we didn't lose the game and have to learn from it, I'm glad we won and can learn from it."

On the play of Tylor Ongwae
"I thought he and Amos (Olatayo) played well on the wings. They played active tonight. They blocked shots and were up and down the floor which is what you want to see from them the whole time. If we can get Marvin Williams, he had 16 but it sure didn't seem like it, if we can get him to come around, we can be the best we can be."

On point guard play
"I thought both of them (R.J. McCray and Nick Coppola) played really well. I'm very proud of R.J. who saw some good minutes when Nick sat for a while, then Nick came in and made some big free throws so having those two really helped us tonight."

On momentum heading ahead to UT-Arlington and Texas State
"Like I said two weeks ago when we got beat by Louisiana Tech, one game doesn't make the whole season. This game doesn't make the whole season, but it is a conference home win and that's important, especially when you're in a league this year that's taking eight of 10 teams to the tournament. Any win that you can get is a real plus. I'm very happy about that. We'll be able to use that, especially with what we went through this week. Like I told you, we were in a bad place after the Ohio State game both mentally and physically. I told the team before the game today that we were in a much better place mentally. It doesn't mean we're going to win, but I felt good about coming into this game. We were in a better place."

Quoting ULM senior Jayon James
On what the coach's message was before the game
“Coach preached effort. We looked at our last game over-and-over and felt we played too defensively, so we just wanted to come out tonight and be aggressive.”

On UL-Lafayette's final play in regulation
“Coach was yelling at me, and I knew it was my fault. I wanted to get it back and I thought I played really well in the first overtime.”

On the significance of this game
“Even though we won this game, it doesn't determine our season. This is just one game and we still have to push. We still have 17 conference games remaining.”

On what he was telling his teammates in double overtime
“After I fouled out, I was telling my teammates on the bench that this was the type of game that we are going to have to win this season, especially when we get to post-season play. A game like this will help us build as a team.”

On what changed between this game and the last game
“We didn't change a whole lot. We just wanted to keep the effort up and stay together. We had a little meeting between the players beforehand, which helped us, but we just wanted to stay together. It's a long season, and we've already had some tough losses but we just have to keep pushing to the next game.”

Quoting ULM junior Tylor Ongwae
On his performance
“I've always known my potential and I knew I could play well and aggressive. I felt I hadn't played as well as I could in our eight non-conference games, but I knew I had to bring it today. These conference games mean a lot and I wanted to play hard. We had a meeting between our teammates and we told each other that if we play hard then we can beat the best teams in the conference. We have to continue playing hard.”

On the importance of this game
“Being 1-0 means a lot because it builds our confidence. UL-Lafayette is one of the best teams in the conference so this was a good win for us. I am confident that we will continue building now. We really worked on our defense and it paid off today. We need this same thing when we travel to UT-Arlington.”