MONROE, La. – Senior Majok Deng netted a career-high 30 points to help lead the ULM men's basketball program to a 81-70 victory over rival UL-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference opener on Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
ULM (4-2, 1-0 SBC), which shot a combined 10-58 (.147) from three-point range in its last four games, went 9-15 (.600) from long range. Deng and junior Nick Coppola each hit a trio of long-range shots. Deng also grabbed eight rebounds in the contest.
Coppola finished with 19 points which matched his career-high. He also dished out a season-high seven assists and had just two turnovers for a 3.5 assist:turnover ratio.
Also in double-figures, senior Jamaal Samuel posted 12 points and seven rebounds, while senior Justin Roberson ended with 11 points.
SBC Preseason Player of the Year Shawn Long from ULL (2-3, 0-1 SBC) was limited to 10 points and eight rebounds. Tyrone Wooten led the Cajuns with 12 points, while Jay Wright and Jay Hedgeman put in 10 apiece.
ULM led 10-9 early when Coppola and Samuel nailed back-to-back three-pointers to go up 16-9, forcing a ULL timeout at the 12:45 mark. An old-fashion three-point play by Samuel followed by four straight points by Deng extended the lead to 23-11 with 9:30 left.
Still leading 32-20, the Cajuns went on a 6-0 run as ULM called timeout with 3:30 remaining, ahead 32-26. The Warhawks answered with a 7-0 run, started by a lay-in by Deng, to push the advantage back up to 39-26 at the 1:39 mark.
The Cajuns scored on their final possession of the half on a jumper from the corner by Hayward Register, but the Warhawks led 42-31 at the intermission.
ULM carried a 49-38 edge in the second half when the Cajuns went on a 6-0 run to trail 49-44 with 16:13 left. ULL continued to find shots near the basket, but Deng hit a pair of three-pointers to keep ULM on top 56-49 at the 13:10 mark.
Samuel found Munnings wide open underneath for a lay-up which got the lead back up to 11 points, 62-51, with 9:44 to go. The Cajuns made one last push to get it down to a 72-66 deficit with 2:21 left, but could not chop into it any further.
The Warhawks shot a season-high .846 (22-26) from the free throw line in the game to solidify the win.
ULM never trailed in the contest.
The Warhawks will resume non-conference play when they head to Kent State next Thursday for a 6:00 p.m. tip. ULM will close out the weekend with games at Penn State and West Virginia on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
NOTES
- ULM posted its third consecutive victory over ULL. The Warhawks also won their third straight at home against the Cajuns where they moved to 19-16 all-time
- The Warhawks improved 407-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum and 3-0 this year
- ULM has now held opponents to under 75 points in 49 of the last 50 games. It marked the fourth straight time the Warhawks held the Cajuns to under 75 points
- The Warhawks entered the game leading the SBC and ranking top-45 in the nation three-point percentage defense (.284) and held the Cajuns to a 2-18 (.111) mark
- Deng registered his 13th double-figure scoring game in his last 14 outings dating back to last season. It was his 30th career double-figure scoring game and fifth this season. The 20-plus outing was his second in a row and fourth of his career
- Deng became the first Warhawk to score 30 points in a game since Amos Olatayo did it at Northwestern State on Nov. 21, 2013. He also became the first Warhawk to make 11 free throws in a game this season (a career-high)
- Coppola posted his third consecutive double-figure scoring game and the 31st of his career. He matched his career-high of 19 points set last season at Arkansas State on Feb. 21, 2015
- Roberson recorded his 18th career double-figure scoring game and the third this season
- Samuel etched his 11th career double-digit scoring game and the third this season
- ULM is 1-0 in conference play for the second time in three years with both wins coming against ULL at home
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“Very hard-played, hard-fought game by both teams. There was a lot of fight going on out there. I'm really proud of our team. We played really well defensively in the first half. I was worried at halftime though because [UL-Lafayette] is a dangerous offensive team. Even though we were doing a good job, it didn't feel good only being up 11 at half. I expressed my concerns at halftime and I knew we'd need some offense to win this in the second half because they were going to do a better job. We needed to make some plays on offense, and obviously Majok made some plays in the second half that really helped us win.”
On Majok Deng
“Very, very good. It was nice to see him make some three-point shots. He was 3-5 on the night and had been struggling from the three-point line. Our players did a good job out there. There was some fatigue, but I stuck with them and just played it out because those were our best offensive players on the floor. They were beating us on the boards and off the dribble and it was because of fatigue. I knew it, but again, I wanted to keep my best offensive players on the floor because it was a race to the finish and I knew we'd need some points.”
On ULL's Shawn Long
“I said before that we just didn't need him to get 30 [points] and 20 [rebounds] and we did a good job on him. That helped us win.”
On Nick Coppola
“Nick played almost the whole game and did a good job of not turning the ball over and getting us into the offense. He made a few big plays, as he did in the other games, at the end of the shot clock. This team is probably going to need Nick to score a little more than he did last year and he's getting a little more comfortable doing it.”
Quoting Senior Majok Deng
On his mentality coming into the game
“It was the first game of conference and we wanted to come out and play tonight. We wanted to have a lot of energy. This wasn't a one-man job, it was a team effort and we all did it together.”
On his performance
“It was a great job by my teammates finding me and putting me in position to score. I was able to get a couple good shots and knock them down, but I have to give it to my teammates because they did a great job finding me.”
