MONROE, La. – Trailing 42-35 at half, the ULM men's basketball program erupted for 66 points in the second half to defeat a hot-shooting Central Baptist squad, 101-76 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
In the second half, ULM (5-5, 1-0 SBC) shot an astounding 21-28 (.750) from the field and 8-9 (.889) from three-point range.
After missing the last three games, senior Majok Deng returned to the lineup and netted a career-high 33 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. He was one of three Warhawks with a double-double as it marked his third consecutive outing with a career-high.
Junior Nick Coppola matched a career-high with 19 points and dished out a season-high 10 assists. Freshman Travis Munnings poured in 15 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds as he went 8-8 from the free throw line.
Senior Justin Roberson scored 19 points against CBC (4-6) for the second straight year to match his career-high. He shot 7-8 from the field.
The Mustangs built their lead after starting the game 9-13 from three-point range which carried into the second half. JayIn McBride was on fire as he finished with 27 points and went 10-12 from the field and 5-6 from beyond-the-arc.
CBC ended the game 28-56 (.500) shooting and made 10 three-pointers. The Mustangs were also a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line.
Fred Albright pitched in with 11 points for CBC while Jordan Wilson and Justin Harris had 10 points apiece.
The Mustangs started ahead 19-15 after making three of their first four three-pointers. ULM responded with back-to-back dunks from Deng to force a CBC timeout, tied 19-19 with 7:50 remaining. The Mustangs answered with a lay-in and put-back to go back up 23-19 and extended the lead to 28-21, with 4:38 to go.
The Warhawks came back with a 7-0 run to tie it, 28-28, after five points from Deng and a put-back by Coppola with 4:13 left. CBC used an 8-1 spurt to leap back ahead, 36-29 with 1:33 remaining. The Mustangs took a 42-35 advantage into the break after a three-pointer in the closing seconds by McBride.
CBC kept knocking down long-range shots early in the second half and went up 53-40 at the 17:13 mark. The Mustangs were shooting 9-13 from beyond-the-arc at that point.
The Warhawks slowly chipped away, and after cutting the deficit to 60-53, they went on a big 15-0 run to take a 68-60 lead which included three-pointers by Roberson and Deng with 9:33 remaining.
ULM extended its lead to 75-64 after an old-fashion three-point play by Deng at the 7:37 mark. Still up, 82-72, the Warhawks pulled away with a 12-0 run to make it 94-72 with 2:12 left. ULM's biggest lead, 101-76, came on a lay-up by Roberson with 21 seconds remaining.
ULM will conclude non-conference action next week when it travels to Las Vegas for the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. The Warhawks will play Canisius on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. (CT) and either Hampton or Nicholls State on Wednesday.
NOTES
- The Warhawks improved to 4-0 at home this season and 18-4 (.818) at home over the last two years. ULM is now 408-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- ULM defeated CBC by exactly 25 points for the second year in a row. The Warhawks came out on top, 78-53 last year in the first-ever meeting
- The Warhawks outrebounded CBC, 35-18 and held a big 22-6 edge in second-chance points
- ULM improved to 76-4 all-time when it scores at least 100 points in a game
- The Warhawks made a season-high 11 three-pointers (11-20) in the contest. They also got their hands on a season-high 11 steals
- Deng notched his second consecutive 30-plus scoring game after he put in 30 points against UL-Lafayette. He reached double-figures in scoring for the 14th time in his last 15 outings dating back to last year and the sixth time this season. It was his 10th career double-double and second this year. Deng grabbed his 10th career double-digit rebounding game
- Munnings recorded his third consecutive double-figure scoring game with his third double-double of the year. The 12 rebounds topped his previous career-best of 10, set twice. It was his seventh double-figure scoring game of the year
- Roberson etched his fourth double-figure scoring game of the year and 19th of his career. His seven made field goals marked a season-high
- Coppola scored 19 points for the third time in his career and second time this season. He needs one more assist to move into ninth-place all-time at ULM and catch Brian Spencer. Coppola tallied his second career double-double. It was also his 33rd career double-figure scoring game and fifth this season.
- Junior Marcus Washington registered seven points, three assists and three steals off the bench. He played 18 minutes, a career-high
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“First of all, let me give credit to Central Baptist – what a tremendous offensive performance by them for three-quarters of this game. Even the referees were saying 'my gosh' to me down the floor. They were hitting everything, and contested shots a lot of times. We had a hard time guarding [McBride]. We finally got Justin to him in the second half and that helped a lot. Justin's our best defensive player, but he still scored some on him. So you have to give them credit, they played a whale of a game and really pushed us and tested us. I do also want to compliment our players which is what I told them in the locker room. We were down 13 and this game was there to be lost, but we did not allow it to happen. We finally found a group that could guard them in the second half which was the struggle for most of the game. That group of five of Nick, Justin, Marcus, Travis and Majok helped stop them and that really turned it around.”
On Majok Deng
“Majok was out the last three games and was rusty in practice the last few days and a little bit fatigued. Majok always plays hard, and even though he's thin, he's a real tough kid especially mentally. He was diving on the floor which is just part of who he is. Majok has a lot of pride too, in himself, our program and our team, and that's the type of kid you want around.”
On scoring 66 points in the second half
“I really wasn't worried about us offensively, even at halftime. My concern was how were we going to stop them. It didn't look like we were going to be able to in the first 5-6 minutes of the second half. Once again, I want to give credit to Nick, Justin, Marcus, Travis and Majok for their defensive effort. I know we scored a lot of points and I'm real happy about that, but we had to stop them somewhere along the way. We had six or seven stops in a row which turned the game.”
Quoting junior Nick Coppola
On the message that was sent to the team at half
“Coach just said to stay with the scout. They were making some tough shots in the first half, and in the second half we did a better job defensively. Our offensive came, and it was a good second half.”
On his double-double
“It was easy to get assists tonight when Majok, Justin and everyone else was making shots. It was just as much them as it was me.”
On CBC's McBride
“He had a good game. He was hitting a lot of tough shots and really played well.”
On the tournament in Vegas
“We'll be right back at it tomorrow. We're going to start working on the scout for Canisius and we're looking forward to getting out there.”
Quoting senior Majok Deng
On how it felt to be back on the court
“It felt really good. It was tough sitting the last three games on the road. I'm blessed that I was able to come back strong. I'm just happy to be back on the court again.”
On how hard it was for him to have to sit out
“I was definitely really sad and it was hard watching my brothers go play and I couldn't help. Though, it taught me a lot just watching the game and I learned from it. I used that to come out strong and I'm glad with how I did tonight.”
On the importance of the tournament in Vegas
“Those games are going to be huge. We are 5-5 right now and we'd like to finish above .500. That would be big going into Christmas break. We're going to treat them like conference games and we're going to be prepared for it.”
