SAN MARCOS, Texas – In a game in which the ULM men's basketball program never trailed, the Warhawks jumped out to a 10-point halftime lead and then held off a hot-shooting Texas State squad in the second half for a 62-59 win on Saturday at Strahan Coliseum.
It marked the third straight victory for the Warhawks.
ULM (9-6, 3-1 SBC) held Texas State (9-5, 3-2 SBC) to just 21.4 percent (6-28) in the first half but the Bobcats shot 58.3 percent (14-24) in the second to tie the game five times.
The game was even, 50-50, when senior Tylor Ongwae scored five consecutive points to give ULM a 55-50 edge at the 3:54 mark. A three-pointer by Texas State's Wes Davis made it a 57-55 game with 2:12 left.
The Warhawks were clinging to a 61-59 lead with three seconds remaining when Texas State had the ball underneath ULM's basket. Junior Majok Deng came up with a huge steal on the inbounds play as he intercepted the pass to seal it.
Ongwae was clutch from the free throw line down the stretch and went 9-9 in the game. He finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals.
Senior Marvin Williams led the Warhawks in scoring for the third straight game with 18 points. He was a perfect 9-9 from the field and also grabbed six rebounds. Junior Justin Roberson scored 10 points off the bench.
The Bobcats were led by Emani Gant's 14 points. Ethan Montalvo scored 12 points.
The Warhawks were up early, 14-6, after a pair of three-pointers by Deng. ULM led 20-12 when a pair of baskets from Williams in the post spurted a 6-0 run and increased the advantage to 26-12 with 4:28 left. ULM took a 31-21 lead into the break.
The Warhawks led 40-29 in the second half when Texas State got back in with a 6-0 run to make it a 40-35 game with 11:12 remaining. The Bobcats tied the game, 42-42 with about 9:11 left after a three-pointer and transition basket.
The team's exchanged baskets over the next four minutes until ULM could get a slight separation at 55-50.
The Warhawks return next home next weekend beginning with Troy at 7:00 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. ULM is a perfect 6-0 at home this season with an average score of 83-59 per outing.
NOTES
- ULM improved to 26-18 all-time against Texas State
- The Warhawks are now 9-0 on the season when they have at least three double-figure scorers
- ULM has won three consecutive conference games for the first time since 2006-07 when it went on to earn SBC West Division Co-Champions
- The Warhawks entered the game ranking first in the league in blocks (5.1 bpg) and were right on par with five in the contest. Deng had three of them as he entered the game ranking third in the SBC as an individual in that category
- ULM remained as the only team in the Sun Belt Conference that has not allowed 80 points in a single game this season. The most the team let up was 74 points to Northwestern State in a win
- Williams notched his sixth double-figure scoring game of the season and third in a row. It was the 15th double-digit scoring game of his career. His nine made field goals matched a career-high
- Ongwae tallied his ninth double-digit scoring game of the year and the 33rd of his career. The nine made free throws tied a career-high
- Roberson etched his seven double-figure scoring game of the year. He also got his hands on four steals, a career-high
- ULM outrebounded Texas State, 35-25
- The Warhawks shot over 90 percent from the free throw line (10-11) for the first time since Dec. 10, 2011 in a game at Texas A&M
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“Great toughness from our team. In the second half, it became a tough-man's game. Our team showed both mental and physical toughness. It was hard to score and we had to go make plays. Our players won this game by making plays down the stretch.”
On the travelling violation called on Tylor Ongwae with 1.7 seconds left
“We do a drill almost every practice called a “meet the pass” drill, and that's the exact reason right there. It could have been disastrous and I'm really glad we didn't lose the ball game on that play.”
On Tylor Ongwae
“Tylor showed some All-League play in the second half and we needed him. It was tough to score out there. We shot a good percentage but had a lot of turnovers too. We then were having trouble getting stops so it became paramount that we scored. Tylor came up big down the stretch.”
On Marvin Williams
“He's had a phenomenal week. He's been a huge part of our three consecutive wins.”
On the second half
“We told our team at halftime that we knew Texas State was going to make a run. They are a really tough team, physically tough. It's not pretty, but they drive it hard, post-up hard and throw it inside hard. So I knew a run was coming and it was just a matter of whether we were tough enough to hold on and make some plays ourselves. Our team is making a lot of progress; a month ago we would have lost this game, the same goes for Thursday night. When you're in a marathon conference like this, in terms of number of games, you can't get too high or too low. We have to keep improving game-to-game and week-to-week, and I thought we improved a lot this week.”
