MONROE, La. – After an eight-day layoff, the ULM men's basketball program returned to the court strong and defeated Appalachian State, 72-56 in Sun Belt Conference action on Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
ULM (6-7, 2-0 SBC) led by nine with 14:29 left in the second half when it went on a 7-0 run to leap ahead, 54-38 with 12:47 remaining. ULM's lead never dropped below 13 points after that.
Senior Majok Deng led the charge with a game-high 18 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. He was one of four ULM student-athletes in double-figures as junior Nick Coppola and senior Justin Roberson finished with 11 points apiece and freshman Travis Munnings ended with 10.
Off the bench, senior DeMondre Harvey had a solid outing of nine points and seven rebounds.
Appalachian State (2-10, 0-1 SBC) was led by Bennett Holley's 13 points and Tyrell Johnson ended with 11.
Frank Eaves, who entered the game leading the SBC in scoring with 20.1 points per game and shooting .477 from beyond-the-arc, recorded 12 points and was held to 0-4 from long-range.
The Warhawks shot 27-55 (.491) in the game and held the Mountaineers to a 17-53 (.321) mark.
ULM led 7-2 early which was started by an old-fashion three-point play by Roberson. Still ahead 13-6, the Warhawks reeled off five straight points to go up 18-6 after another three-point play by senior Jamaal Samuel with 9:46 remaining.
The Warhawks extended the lead to 26-12 after a steal and fast-break lay-up by senior Mack Foster with 7:17 left. The Mountaineers ended the half on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 37-29 at the break.
ULM opened the second half on an 8-1 run to make it a 45-30 game after back-to-back jumpers by Samuel with 17:43 to go. After the Mountaineers came back within nine at 47-38, the Warhawks answered with a 7-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Deng, to go back up 54-38 with 12:47 left.
Still leading 58-45 at the 9:25 mark, Deng hit a three-pointer and followed with a tip-in to spark a 10-0 run and give ULM a 68-45 advantage with 7:00 remaining.
The Mountaineers came back with a 9-0 spurt, including seven straight free throws, to cut the deficit to 68-54 with 1:42 left. A jumper by Harvey quieted the streak at the 1:08 mark. Roberson grabbed a steal and threw down a fast-break dunk for an exclamation point on ULM's final possession.
ULM will play its first road SBC contest next Thursday when it travels to Arkansas State for a 7:35 p.m. tip. The Warhawks will close out next weekend at Little Rock at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.
NOTES
- ULM improved to 2-1 all-time against Appalachian State and 2-0 at home
- The Warhawks are 2-0 SBC for the first time since 2006-07 when they went on to become SBC West Co-Champions
- ULM improved to 5-0 at home this season and 19-4 (.826) at home over the last two years. ULM is now 409-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- The Warhawks have held SBC opponents to under 75 points in 30 straight games including postseason play
- The Mountaineers entered the game making .397 percent of their three-pointers as a team and were held to a .190 (4-21) clip
- ULM outrebounded Appalachian State 34-31 and held a 28-22 edge in points in the paint
- The Warhawks entered the game ranking second in the league in field goal percentage (.454) and upped it with a .491 mark
- Deng has scored in double-figures in 17 of the last 18 games dating back to last season. It was his 34th career double-digit scoring game and ninth this season. He's scored at least 15 points in six straight outings
- Coppola reached double-figures in scoring for the fourth straight game, eighth time this season and 36th time in his career. He needs 10 more assists to move up to No. 7 all-time in career assists and catch John Pickett who dished out 300. Coppola was a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line in the game and played a game-high 38 minutes
- Roberson notched his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring game, seventh this year and 22nd of his career. He also finished the game with four rebounds, three assists and a steal
- Munnings has now reached double-figures in scoring in five of the last six games. It was his ninth double-digit scoring game this season. Munnings also tallied five rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in the contest. He entered the game ranking second in the SBC in field goal percentage (.573) and went 5-8 (.625) in the game
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
On starting 2-0 in league play
“Very happy about that. There were four league games last night and two road teams won. That scares you when you have a home game the next day. So I was certainly happy about holding serve at home. In our league it's pretty close between all 11 teams. Some are a little more talented than the others, but not by much. Winning at home is going to be hard and this was a hard-fought win today. I'm very happy with a lot of things from this game, but I'm not happy about the last five minutes with how we closed it out. We're trying to be a tighter team and we took a step backwards there in that last five minutes. To be the best we can be we'll have to be better than that in the last five minutes. We've got a week now to hammer it in their heads and we'll work on it again in the film room and on the practice floor.”
On his overall thoughts of the game
“We played good defense for a lot of this game. We held Eaves to no three-point makes. That's a big thing for their team. We held him to 12 points which is eight points below his average. Justin Roberson and Mack Foster guarded him, chased him all over the floor and did a tremendous job. We also had four guys score in double-figures and two more with nine points so our balance on offense was very good. But with that said, we need to take this last five minutes and watch how we operated there. We fouled too much, stopped the clock, and we can't do that and be a good team. We need to cleanup some mistakes and that's what's stopping our team from being extra-special good. We're a decent team right now, but we have to get to another level and those are the things we have to work on.”
Quoting senior DeMondre Harvey
On what this win does for the team after two losses to end non-conference
“This win will bring confidence back to the team. We were a little down after the losses but this will help us get back on stride.”
On whether he's concerned about having a week off before the next game
“No, we will be ready to play.”
