MOBILE, Ala. – The ULM men's basketball program led by 12 points at halftime when South Alabama stormed back to take a two-point lead late, but the Warhawks converted key baskets and free throws down the stretch to win their sixth consecutive game, 66-59 on Thursday at the Mitchell Center.
ULM (16-12, 12-5 SBC) trailed as late as the 4:37 mark in the game when senior Justin Roberson netted a free throw and junior Nick Coppola connected on back-to-back drives to go up 56-52. An inside basket by senior Mack Foster extended the lead to 60-55 with 1:11 left and the Warhawks made their final four free throws to put it out of reach.
Senior Jamaal Samuel led all scorers with 15 points including 11 in the first half. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and had a block and a steal.
Also in double-figures, Coppola ended with 14 points, senior Majok Deng finished with 13 points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists, and Roberson tallied 11 points. Deng played a game-high 39 minutes. Coppola is the reigning Co-Louisiana Player of the Week winner.
USA (12-16, 7-10 SBC) saw Ken Williams score 14 points, Georgi Boyanov had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Don MuepoKelley recorded 12 points and eight rebounds.
ULM outshot USA from the field, .383 to .339. Though, the Jags held the Warhawks to an 0-7 clip from three-point frange in the second half.
ULM trailed 10-9 early when it went on a 9-2 run, capped by an ally-oop dunk by Deng from Coppola, to take an 18-12 advantage at the 11:18 mark. The Warhawks extended the lead to 24-14 after a jumper by Samuel with 9:03 remaining.
After a three-pointer by the Jags, ULM came back with an 8-0 spurt, started by back-to-back three-pointers from Roberson and Coppola to go up 32-17 with 5:16 left. The Warhawks carried a 39-27 lead into the half despite a put-back by USA's John Brown in the closing seconds.
The Jags quickly got the deficit down into single-figures, 42-33 with 16:28 to go in the second half. USA then used a big 11-0 run tie the game, 44-44 at the 11:30 mark. The Jags took their first lead of the half, 50-48 with 7:05 remaining on a dunk by Don MuepoKelly.
The Warhawks will play their final road game of the regular season on Saturday when they travel to Troy for a 4:15 p.m. contest at Trojan Arena. ULM won the first meeting this year, 85-74 on Jan. 21 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
NOTES
- ULM won its seventh consecutive game against South Alabama to take the lead in the all-time series, 11-10
- The Warhawks completed their fourth season sweep of the year after already taking both meetings over Appalachian State, Texas State and UT Arlington. ULM won the first meeting this year against USA, 100-68 on Jan. 23
- ULM has won six straight SBC games for the third time in the last two seasons
- The Warhawks have won 10 of their last 11 games since switching their starting lineup to Coppola, Roberson, Deng, Samuel and senior DeMondre Harvey
- ULM is now 26-11 SBC over the last two seasons, best in the league
- Coppola moved up to No. 2 all-time in career assists at ULM, surpassing Jamie Mayo who dished out 370 from 1975-79. Coppola now has 372 and needs 26 more to catch Larry Saulters and become the school's all-time leader. He scored his 45th career double-figuring game, 17th this year and third in a row
- Deng has scored at least 13 points in 19 of his last 21 outings. He swatted away two blocks in the game and needs six more to move into fourth all-time in ULM history and catch Terry Martin who rejected 99. Deng has 11 blocks in his last two games. He registered his 47th career double-figure scoring game and 22nd this season
- Roberson entered the game ranking third in the league in steals (1.7 spg) and got his hands on a pair in the contest. He posted his 35th career double-digit scoring game, 20th this year and his seventh in a row. Roberson shot 2-3 from beyond-the-arc
- Samuel notched his 23rd career double-figure scoring game and 15th this season. He made seven field goals, one shy of his career-high set at West Virginia
- ULM has secured back-to-back winning seasons in league play for the first time since 1998-99 & 1999-00 when it was a member of the Southland Conference
- The Warhawks clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championships in New Orleans for the third year in a row
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“The last thing I said to the team before the game, after we went over the scouting report and everything else, was that it doesn't matter if we win by one, 10 or 20 at this time of the year. We need wins. And that's what I said again in the locker room after the game. It doesn't matter the score, we won. We had a scoring drought in the second half where we just could not score. We had some turnovers that hurt, but again, we made a few plays late in the game.”
On ULM's big baskets late in the game
“Justin had a big one right before he fouled out, and Mack Foster with a back-door cut scored a big lay-up. When a team does a good job defensively like South Alabama was doing in the second half, you have to have some guard play. You have to be able to put the ball on the deck and make it easier for everyone else. We struggled with that, especially with Justin out, so we ended up taking tough shots. We played off the post a good bit but I don't know that we got a lot out of it. We'd kick it back out but we were 0-7 from the three-point line in the second half. So we needed some dribble-penetration, and that was part of our issue because of Justin's foul trouble. Though our guard play ended up helping us win it in the end anyway with Mack's back-door cut.”
Closing Statement
“It wasn't picture perfect. We made plays when we had to make them and we made a few free throws and we were able to walk out with a win.”
