MONROE, La. – Senior Marvin Williams poured in a career-high 22 points to lead the ULM men's basketball program to a 70-61 victory over Arkansas State at Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Monday.
The win improved ULM's (7-6, 1-1 SBC) home record to 6-0 on the season.
Williams, from Memphis, Tenn., drained a career-high nine field goals (9-12) and also grabbed seven rebounds. He scored 12 points in the first half and 10 in the second.
Williams was one of four Warhawks in double-figures as senior Tylor Ongwae and juniors Majok Deng and Justin Roberson registered 10 points apiece. Ongwae also had seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Sophomore Nick Coppola dished out six assists and committed just one turnover in 40 minutes.
ASU (6-6, 1-2 SBC) was led by Cameron Golden's game-high 25 points. PJ Hardwick recorded 15 points, six rebounds and six assists and Anthony Livingston had 10 points.
The Warhawks got off to a quick 16-4 start after Williams was dominating in the post with an early nine points. ULM was up 19-8 when the Red Wolves responded with an 8-0 run as ULM called timeout leading 19-16 with 9:47 left. Sophomore Prince Cooper scored on a put-back in the final minute to put ULM up, 30-24 at half.
Williams scored his 20th point to put the Warhawks ahead 45-36 with 11:49 remaining in the second half. After ASU cut the deficit to 46-43, junior Jamaal Samuel hit a three-pointer and junior DeMondre Harvey scored off an offensive rebound to increase the lead back up to 55-47 with 6:30 left.
The Red Wolves cut ULM's lead down to six points a couple more times but could not get any closer. The Warhawks took their largest lead of the game, 68-55 after a jumper by Ongwae with 3:03 remaining.
Up next, ULM will hit the road for its Texas swing as it takes on UT Arlington at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday and Texas State at 4:30 p.m. onSaturday.
NOTES
- ULM improved to 18-8 all-time against the Red Wolves at home. The program is now 396-169 (.701) at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks are undefeated at home for the first time since 2006-07 when they went 14-0
- The Warhawks are 1-0 at home in conference for the second year in a row. They knocked off UL-Lafayette, 103-98 in double overtime last season
- ULM, which entered the game ranking 18th in the country in three-point percentage defense, held the Red Wolves to a 4-19 (.211) clip
- Williams broke his previous career of 19 points set last season against No. 5 Kansas. His seven rebounds were a season-high. It was his 13th career double-figure scoring game and the fourth this year
- ULM dominated in the paint, 42-24
- Coppola began the game ranking third in the SBC in assists and assist:turnover ratio and improved upon both totals. He's now averaging 4.5 apg with a 2.9 assist:turnover ratio. Coppola played his 13th career 40-minute game and the fourth this season
- Ongwae notched his 32nd career double-digit scoring game and eighth on the year
- Roberson posted his sixth double-figure scoring game of the year. All of his points came in the second half
- The Warhawks improved to 7-0 on the season when they have at least three double-figure scorers and 6-0 when they shoot over 50 percent from the field. They went 29-53 (.547) from the field
- The team held a 21-7 scoring edge over ASU off the bench
- The Warhawks have a winning record after 13 games for the first time since 2006-07 when they went on to earn SBC West Division Co-Champions
- 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
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
On Marvin Williams
“This was his best game ever. He was the player of the game, no question. We had an emphasis in our game plan to throw the ball to Marvin more than usual, and the other guys in the post as well. Obviously, Marvin played really, really well and it was the best performance of his career.”
On his lineup
“Foster was playing great defense which was a big part of the game. Justin sat for a while, so for him to come up with four baskets in the second half was big. We got Tylor in the post a couple of times and he made some fall-aways. It was good to see those guys score in the heat of the game because we've had some offensive droughts. For a minute, it felt like we were able to fall into another one in the second half but we didn't, and that's a big reason why we didn't lose the game. It's a work in progress and we saw improvement tonight.”
On Arkansas State
“We beat a good team. They have outstanding post-players and three-point shooting on the perimeter. We did a great job on Sean Gardner, he's a great three-point shooter. Tylor guarded him all night and his length bothered him. Gardner was struggling to make some of his usual threes. We saw Cameron Golden score 25 points though. They are a good team and this was a good win for us.”
On Nick Coppola
“One thing Nick has really done a great job for us all year long is not turning the ball over. Whether it's full court pressure, half court pressure or whatever defense we are seeing, he does not turn the ball over much. He gets us into offense and can break the press. He's really been playing the position very well all year long.”
On defending home court
“We played with great pride tonight. There's been a couple of games in our losses on the road where it got a little sideways on us in the second half. We weren't able to dig in and get back in the fight. Tonight, we showed some pride and energy down the stretch, and we needed all of it. We did a good job of grinding down on the defensive end.”
Quoting Senior Marvin Williams
Opening Statement
“We were 0-1 in the conference before this game and we didn't want to dig ourselves in a hole. It was very important for us to win this game. Coach put a lot of emphasis on getting the ball inside a lot and I felt I had to step up tonight.”
On the win
“We're excited. This game gave us a lot of confidence moving into our next two games. We feel like we can really hit a stride and get a winning streak going.”
On Nick Coppola
“I love Nick. He plays beyond his class as a sophomore. He's a floor general and knows how to open it up. I knew he was going to orchestrate it so that it would open it up for me.”
