MONROE, La. – Travis Munnings and Sam McDaniel combined for 30 first-half points as ULM built a 59-20 halftime lead and cruised to a 97-44 victory over NCAA Division III Millsaps College on Monday, Dec. 18 in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The 53-point margin of victory was the seventh largest in school history.
 
ULM (5-5) put together a 20-0 run to take a 32-9 lead on two free throws by Roderick Taylor with 9:19 left in the first half. The Warhawks made 8-of-9 field-goal attempts while Millsaps missed nine-straight shots during a 4:46 stretch. A layup by Munnings sparked 13-0 spurt as ULM moved out to a 47-14 lead as Marvin Jean-Pierre finished the fast break with a slam dunk. The Warhawks shot 68 percent (25-of-37) from the floor in the first half, including 4-of-8 from three-point range, en route to a 59-20 halftime lead.
 
"When you play these non-Division I games, this is what you hope for as a coach," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "We did play well early and got some things done with the starters that we wanted to accomplish. We played a really good first half in all phases. We wanted to score the ball more inside and we did. In the first four or five minutes, we already had seven layups. With the great start, it allowed us to play guys that really needed minutes under game conditions and look at other combinations.
 
"With the big halftime lead, we decided to sit Travis (Munnings) and Sam (McDaniel) in the second half. The game was over at halftime and you'd hate to see those guys get injured. They've both played a ton of minutes this season and could use the rest."
 
"When you get a big lead like that, you don't want it to become like a pick-up game because in two weeks, the competition is going to get a lot stiffer when we start league play. We wanted to play the right way and I think those guys really tried to in the second half."
 
The Warhawks closed out the game on an 11-0 run and Kiir Deng's dunk off the fast break with five seconds left provided the final 97-44 margin and gave ULM its largest lead.  
 
Munnings connected on all seven of his field-goal attempts and scored a game-high 17 points. McDaniel hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 three-pointers, and finished with 13 points.
 
ULM got 52 points off the bench, as Michael Ertel contributed 14 points and Taylor added 10.
 
"Michael Ertel had 14 points in 12 minutes, and with the way he was going, he probably would have had 40," Richard said. "He's done a fine job for us as a freshman. He's got a scoring mentality and you could see it tonight. Mike is going to be a good player and have a good career. We didn't play him as many minutes; he's gotten plenty this year already and there's more to come. We wanted to give the other guys a look-see tonight.
 
"We wanted to give Roderick (Taylor) as many minutes as he could handle under game conditions. Roderick had a concussion and really couldn't practice or do any work for a week or so. We wanted to take this opportunity to try to get him in game shape and back up to game speed."
 
Twelve different players saw action and scored for the Warhawks. Three players logged 20 or more minutes off the bench, including Brandon Newman (season-high 26 minutes), Deng (21) and Donovan Walker (20).
 
"We've played Brandon (Newman) more minutes the last two games," Richard said. "He's a taller guard and that's one of the reasons we recruited him. At 6-4, his height helps us become a better defensive and rebounding team. He also sees the floor well when leading the break.
 
"We played Donovan Walker the whole second half. He kind of got lost in the mix because he hadn't played well. He's cat quick, but he needs to play more under control on offense. We want to use him if he plays the right way, and I thought he did a much better job tonight. This was kind of a restart, reboot for him."
 
She'Chem Grant and Matt Owens scored eight points each to pace the Majors.
 
ULM concludes its three-game homestand and non-conference schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 20 against Centenary at 7 p.m.