NEW ORLEANS – The ULM men's basketball program led 33-28 at the intermission, but Little Rock came out of the locker room hot in the second half and never looked back for a 70-50 decision in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Sunday at Lakefront Arena.
ULM (20-13, 15-5 SBC) shot 14-24 (.583) from the field and 4-10 from long-range in the first half, but were held to a 7-25 (.280) and 0-8 mark from three in the second half. Conversely, Little Rock (29-4, 17-3 SBC) shot at a .458 clip in the first half and .536 in the second.
Senior Justin Roberson, the SBC Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year and All-Conference Second-Team selection, led the Warhawks with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. All-Conference First-Team honoree, senior Majok Deng, registered 12 points and six rebounds. Also in double-figures, senior DeMondre Harvey tallied 10 points.
Both Deng and Roberson were named to the SBC All-Tournament Team. Roberson played 40 minutes in the contest along with junior Nick Coppola.
For the Trojans, Roger Woods totaled game-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds. Marcus Johnson Jr. pitched in with 14 points, Kemy Osse 12 and Jalen Jackson 11.
ULM trailed 14-8 in the first half when Roberson converted on back-to-back lay-ups to make it a 14-12 game at the 10:08 mark. After the Trojans went up 20-15, Roberson again made a lay-up, followed by an old-fashion three-point play to tie it with 4:47 left.
The Warhawks took the lead, 26-23 after senior Jamaal Samuel buried a three from the corner with 3:17 remaining. Coppola hit a jumper on ULM's final possession of the half as the Warhawks led 33-28 at the break.
The Trojans opened the second half hot and scored the first seven points to take a 35-33 lead. After a jumper by Deng tied it, LR went on a 6-0 run to go up 41-35 at the 14:18 mark, and extended the advantage to 46-37 with 12:19 left.
LR led 57-48 when it used a final 7-0 spurt to pull away, 64-48 with 2:45 remaining. After a jumper by Samuel, the Trojans scored the final six points of the game.
ULM will find out Sunday evening which postseason tournament it will play in.
NOTES
- ULM saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end. It was the longest at ULM since 1993-94 and third-longest active streak in the nation
- ULM reached the finals of the SBC Championships for the first time in school history
- The Warhawks are now 4-2 against Little Rock in the last six meetings. It was the first time the teams had ever played on a neutral court. They split the regular season series, both winning at home
- Roberson reached double-figures in scoring for the 39th time in his career and 24th time this year. It was his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring outing as he had 16 points in the SBC semifinals against UT Arlington. Roberson entered the game ranked top-three in the league in steals (1.7 spg) and grabbed a pair in the contest
- Deng, the SBC scoring champion, posted his 24th double-figure scoring game in his last 26 outings, 27th this year and 52nd of his career. He went 5-11 from the field and 2-5 from beyond-the-arc
- Harvey averaged 15.5 points per game in the SBC Championships. He went 4-7 from the field in the game and 13-16 in the tournament. He recorded his 15th career double-figure scoring game, 11th this year and fifth in a row. ULM is 14-2 since inserting him into the starting lineup
- Coppola, the new ULM Assist King after surpassing Larry Saulters in the SBC semifinals, dished out six in the game to move his career total up to 407. He logged 40 minutes (or more) for the 35th time in his career
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“Congratulations to Little Rock, they've had a great year and I think today you saw a big reason on why they've won so many games. They beat us in the second half, they won the second half. The game was up for grabs at halftime being in the lead, but they went out and earned it. They're very deserving of the victory and going to the NCAA tournament. We are disappointed, no question about it. We did not play well offensively in the second half. I don't know if it was our defense or our inability to get the ball in the basket. We missed some open shots and some plays right around the rim. We just couldn't seem to get going in the second half and then on the other end, they were really driving us and getting the ball in the basket. They were certainly deserving to win the game and move on.”
On whether he not he thinks the team was fatigued in the second half because of its short bench
“No not at all. Not at all. They played better than us in the second half. They drove it, they scored it. It had nothing to do with fatigue.”
On Little Rock's Roger Woods
“Player of the game. You could tell they were isolating our bigs with him. He's a great driver. What is interesting about him is that Majok Deng has done a good job against him in previous games. His length has usually bothered him. He has given up some ground inside because the kid is stronger, but with his length Deng was usually able to affect some shots. That was not the case today in the second half. Woods was able to get to the rim and score it. It's hard to come off the perimeter with Hagins and Johnson out there. Little Rock is the highest three-point shooting percentage team in the league. But really Woods had a great second half and that was probably the story of the game.”
Quoting senior Majok Deng
On what he will remember most about the season
“For me, the thing that I will remember most is the friendship and bonds that I made with my teammates. I think we had a great run, but we did not finish it the way we wanted to. Good luck to Little Rock going forward.”
On the difference between the first and second halves
“In the first half, we were driving it and kicking it. In the second half, they did a great job of getting in the passing lanes. We did get some open looks, but we could not make anything.”
Quoting junior Nick Coppola
On what he will remember most about the season
“Definitely just the relationships I made with my teammates, it was a good season. We obviously wish we won this game, but they played better and they deserved to go.”
