MONROE, La. – The ULM men's basketball program trailed Troy just one time in the game and by one point at the 5:32 mark in the second half when it responded with a decisive 11-0 run to pull away for a 63-54 win on Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The victory was the fourth in-a-row for ULM (10-6, 4-1 SBC) and improved the program's home record to 7-0 on the season.
Troy (6-8, 1-4 SBC) led 49-48 when senior Tylor Ongwae hit a short jumper, junior Justin Roberson nailed a three-pointer, Ongwae converted a lay-up, Roberson threw down a monster dunk and junior Majok Deng made a pair of free throws to go up 58-49 and put the game out of reach in the closing minutes.
Ongwae finished the game with a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Deng netted a career-high 16 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Senior Marvin Williams finished with eight points, six rebounds and matched a season-high three blocks.
Wesley Person led the Trojans with 13 points, Kevin Thomas had 12 and Kelton Ford 11. The Trojans went 8-16 (.500) from beyond-the-arc in the game as Person and Ford each hit three.
The game was tied early, 10-10, when the Warhawks went on an 8-0 spurt to go up 18-10 at the 10:28 mark after a pair of baskets by Ongwae. The Trojans used an 8-2 run to get back in it, 22-18, and cut the deficit to just one, 26-25 with 1:21 remaining. ULM scored the final basket of the half on a three-pointer by Deng to take a 29-25 lead into the intermission.
Three-pointers from sophomore Nick Coppola, Deng and Ongwae pushed ULM's lead up to 44-36 with 14:25 to go in the second half. Troy responded with a pair of three-pointers of its own to cut the deficit back down to 46-44 at the 9:08 mark.
The Trojans then took their only lead of the game, 49-48, after a three-pointer by Ford. ULM's deficit lasted just 30 seconds.
The Warhawks will stay at home on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. when they host UALR. ULM swept the season series last year. The Warhawks will hit the road on Monday for a 7:15 p.m. contest at UL-Lafayette.
NOTES
- With 15 regular season games still remaining, ULM has already matched its overall win total from last season when it finished 10-17
- ULM improved to 7-0 at home this season and 397-169 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. It has outscored opponents 558-407 at home on the year, an average score of 80-58 per outing
- The Warhawks entered the game leading the Sun Belt Conference and top-30 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.378) and limited the Trojans to a .379 mark (22-58)
- ULM also began the game ranking first in the SBC in blocks (5.1 bpg) and rejected six in the match
- The Warhawks turned the ball over just eight times in the contest. It was the first time this year they had less than 10 turnovers in a game. They forced 14 turnovers from Troy
- Ongwae registered his fifth career double-double and the second this season. It was his 34th career double-figure scoring game and the 10th this year
- The Warhawks have now posted eight double-doubles on the year by five different student-athletes
- Deng recorded his ninth double-figure scoring game of the year. It was the first time ULM won this season with less than three double-digit scorers. Deng made a career-high six free throws and was perfect from the line
- ULM remained as the only team in the SBC 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
- With the victory, ULM moved into a tie for first place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with UL-Lafayette and Georgia Southern who are both 4-1 as well
- With a weekend sweep on Saturday, ULM can post its longest conference winning streak (5) since 2001-02. The Warhawks have tied the school record for longest conference win-streak in SBC play since joining the league in 2005-06
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“I've told everyone all week, to anyone that would listen, that we're going to be in a ton of close games this year. It's just the parody of our league. That was a war out there tonight from both teams. Whichever team makes plays in the final minutes will win the game, and fortunately for us, for the third game in a row, we made some big offensive plays down the stretch.”
On ULM's defense
“We were doing a good job on Troy's guards in the first half, they are good players. Wesley Person is an excellent player and we were doing a really good job defending him. Troy then countered and started going into the big men, and it became a big man against big man game. There was a lot of banging inside, a lot of post-ups and tough offensive and defensive rebounding.”
On Justin Roberson and the offense
“Once again, we had that halftime talk about making perimeter shots because we were struggling against the zone in the first half. It was good to see Justin make some nice shots. It was also good to see us make four three-pointers in the second half; Justin's was a huge one late in the game. We are going to have to make some perimeter shots, there's no way around it. We can't move to the next level offensively without it. Marvin did well down low and there was a lot of congestion inside. Troy was paying a lot of attention to him and that's what happens when you're playing as well as he has. Nevertheless, making mid-range and perimeter shots really helped us in the second half.”
