MONROE, La. – Sam McDaniel scored a career-high 28 points to lead ULM to an 82-72 victory over Coastal Carolina Thursday, Jan. 4 in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks never trailed while earning their first Sun Belt win of the season.
 
McDaniel hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an early 21-4 run as ULM (7-7, 1-2 Sun Belt) raced out to 25-8 lead. The Warhawks led by as many as 19 points in the first half and took a 37-21 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
 
"I thought we really played well in the first half," ULM head basketball coach Keith Richard. "We rebounded well in the first half against a Coastal Carolina team that leads the Sun Belt in rebound margin (+8.2 per game). I think they're one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, so it took tremendous effort on the defensive end of the floor. Our team rebounding got us off to the big lead."
 
A layup by Jordon Harris gave ULM its largest lead at 52-30 with 13:10 left in the second half. Coastal Carolina (7-9, 1-2) put together a 12-1 spurt and cut its deficit to 53-42 on two free throws by Zac Cuthbertson with 8:25 remaining. The Warhawks went more than five minutes without a field goal during that stretch. The Chanticleers pulled to within eight at 66-58 on a 3-pointer from Artur Labinowicz with 3:43 to play. Brandon Newman's three-point play pushed ULM's lead back into double digits at 72-60 with 2:54 left. The Warhawks went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, including six straight by Newman, over the final 1:51 to ice the game.
 
"I knew at halftime that Coastal Carolina would play better in the second half and they did," Richard said. "Coastal had only two offensive rebounds in the first half and finished with 13. So, they had 11 offensive boards in the second half.
 
"We also got a little shaky offensively in the second half. We went with five guards to try to outscore them down the stretch. We ran our motion offense and finished hitting our last seven field-goal attempts. We knew Coastal would continue to score inside, so we decided to give up one end for the other to push the game across the finish line."
 
McDaniel, who netted 17 second-half points, finished 8-of-15 from the field, including a perfect 6-for-6 from behind the 3-point arc. ULM also got 15 points from Harris and a season-best 12 from Newman.
 
"Sam McDaniel was a hard match-up for them to guard," Richard said. "We ran some stuff for him and he hit some big threes in transition to help keep separation in the second half. Sam had a career night and that's what's you expect to see from a senior."
 
The Warhawks shot 50 percent from the floor (28-of-56) and 95 percent (18-of-19) from the free-throw line. ULM held a 35-9 edge in points off turnovers, 16-2 in fast-break points and 21-2 in points off the bench.
 
"We created some turnovers and got out in transition," Richard said. "We needed those transition baskets and that's another way to score inside the 3-point line. We shot 50 percent from the field in both halves. We made only eight threes, which means we scored 20 baskets inside the 3-point line, and that's really good to see. The team made some progress from those first Sun Belt road games, so we'll try to carry those things into the next game."
 
All five starters scored in double figures for Coastal Carolina, led by Jaylen Shaw who netted 15 of his 16 points in the second half. Labinowicz and Demario Beck contributed 14 points each while Cuthbertson and Ajay Sanders added 13 each for the Chanticleers.
 
Coastal Carolina outrebounded ULM, 34-22.
 
ULM concludes its two-game Sun Belt homestand against Appalachian State on Saturday, Jan. 6, with tipoff set for 2 p.m.