MOBILE, Ala. – Junior Justin Roberson scored a team-high 18 points to help propel the ULM men's basketball program to a 75-57 victory over South Alabama on Thursday at the Mitchell Center.
Roberson did a little bit of everything for ULM (19-9, 13-4 SBC) as he hit six field goals, six free throws, pulled down five offensive rebounds, dished out four assists, got his hands on three steals and swatted a block.
Junior Majok Deng registered a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Tylor Ongwae also aided the attack with 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 39 minutes.
Junior DeMondre Harvey and sophomore Nick Coppola each netted nine points. Harvey pulled down six rebounds and Coppola played 40 minutes.
For the Jags (9-20, 7-11 SBC), Ken Williams led the way with 21 points including four three-pointers. Dionte Ferguson pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and also had seven points.
ULM took an early 13-5 lead after junior Jamaal Samuel drilled a three-pointer to cap a 7-0 run at the 15:12 mark. After the Jags cut the deficit to 17-14, the Warhawks went on a 6-0 run which included back-to-back buckets by Harvey to push the lead back up to 23-14 with 9:05 left.
The Jags came back to make it a 29-28 game, but the Warhawks ended the half on a 7-0 run. Junior Mack Foster converted on back-to-back lay-ins and Ongwae hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds push ULM's lead up to 36-28 at the half.
The Warhawks extended their lead to 44-33 early in the second half after a runner by Roberson. USA got back in it with an 8-0 run to make it 44-41, but Roberson scored the next seven points to give ULM a 51-41 edge with 11:10 to go.
Still up 59-51, ULM broke the game open with a 7-0 spurt, capped by a three-pointer by Deng to make it 66-51 with 4:44 left. ULM's biggest lead of the game was 75-55 after a pair of free throws by Coppola with 38 seconds left.
ULM never trailed in the contest.
The Warhawks will close out their road schedule on Saturday when they travel to Appalachian State for a 2:30 p.m. (CT) contest. ULM is going for the season sweep over the Mountaineers. The game can be viewed on Warhawks All-Access.
NOTES
- ULM won its fourth in a row over South Alabama, sweeping the season series for the second straight year
- The 18-point win was ULM's largest over the Jaguars in school history. It marked the 18th meeting between the two teams
- The Warhawks have now won seven of their last eight games on the road
- ULM has posted the most single-season SBC wins in school history with 13. The 19 wins overall are the most since 2001-02
- The Warhawks entered the game ranking top-10 in the country in field goal percentage defense and held the Jaguars to a .388 (19-49) clip
- ULM improved to 5-1 in February
- The Warhawks dominated the Jaguars in the paint, 38-22, and on second-chance points, 22-9. ULM also outrebounded USA, 41-29
- Ongwae notched his sixth consecutive double-figure scoring game. It was the 44th of his career and 20th this season
- Roberson etched his 11th double-figure scoring game of the year. He was one point shy of his career-high set on Dec. 16, 2014 against Central Baptist
- Deng posted his fifth double-double of the season. It was his 17th double-figure scoring game and fifth double-digit rebounding game
- Coppola played 40 minutes (or more) for the sixth straight game, 12th time this season and 21st time in his career. He entered the game leading the league in assist:turnover ratio (2.2) and dished out five assists with just one turnover. The five assists also improved his season average which ranked third in the conference before the game
- Harvey's nine points were a conference-high for him this season. He was a perfect 3-3 from the field
- ULM remained as one of five teams left in the nation to not allow 75 points in a single game this season. The list also includes Saint Peters, Utah, Baylor and New Hampshire
- The Warhawks improved to 16-0 on the season when they have at least three double-figure scorers
- It marked the fourth season sweep of the year for ULM as it has also defeated UL-Lafayette, UALR and Troy twice
- The Warhawks have now surpassed their conference win total from last season by six games and their overall win total by nine games when they finished 10-17 (7-11 SBC)
- At 13-4 in conference, ULM is tied for the top spot in the SBC standings with Georgia Southern and one game ahead of Georgia State. The Warhawks have clinched a first-round bye (top-four spot) at the Sun Belt Conference Championships
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
On Justin Roberson
“In the second half, South Alabama went to a zone after they had a hard time stopping us in man, and I told Justin to drive the ball – even against a zone. Move it, move it, get it back and drive it. He was the one guy on our team that they couldn't stay in front of. South Alabama guarded well for the most part, Nick couldn't get by them, Tylor couldn't get by them, but Justin was the one guy who had success. I wanted him to drive it, shoot it, get fouled, and if he missed it we needed to get the offensive rebound and we got 11 in the second half.”
On Majok Deng's three pointer in the second half
“That's what got South Alabama back out of the zone. What was nice about that possession is we ran the clock down. We worked it and went through the whole shot clock.”
On the lineup
“Tylor continues to play well. There were moments in the first half where Tylor was the offense. He really had it going and he played very hard. He's playing at a really high level and Nick's playing well also. Nick didn't score a lot of points tonight but he played really well. Nick had five assists and one turnover in 40 minutes. But we needed some other people. Majok had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Justin got 18 points tonight. I gave DeMondre Harvey the game ball after the game; he got some huge offensive rebounds for us when we needed it. He played good defense and also hit some free throws."
Closing Statement
“We worked for this win. South Alabama really made us work. We needed a good, play-hard effort. It got a little dicey early in the second half, but to our credit we kept at it and finally put it away in the last five minutes.”
