Travis Munnings layup vs. Coastal Carolina 2019
Isabella Bauer
81
La.-Monroe ULM 11-9
92
Winner Coastal Carolina CCU 11-9
La.-Monroe ULM
11-9
81
Final
92
Coastal Carolina CCU
11-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 35 46 81
Coastal Carolina CCU 46 46 92

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Can’t Overcome Slow Start in 92-81 Loss at Coastal Carolina

CONWAY, S.C. – Zac Cuthbertson and DeVante' Jones combined for 54 points to lead Coastal Carolina to a 92-81 victory over ULM Thursday, Jan. 31 as the Chanticleers won their fourth-straight Sun Belt Conference game.
 
Coastal Carolina (11-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) raced out to a 30-10 lead on Tyrell Gumbs-Frater's 3-pointer with 9:07 left in the first half. The Chanticleers hit nine of their first 14 shots from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. By comparison, ULM (11-9, 4-4) opened 4-of-16 from the floor, including 0-for-8 from behind the 3-point arc.
 
ULM answered with a 12-0 run with Brandon Newman connecting on a 3 from the left corner, Jontray Harris converting a traditional 3-point play and Daishon Smith burying back-to-back 3s as the Warhawks pulled to within eight at 30-22 with 6:35 to play in the opening half. Coastal Carolina led by 11 at the intermission, 46-35.
 
The Chanticleers opened the second half with a 15-6 spurt and matched their largest lead at 61-41 on Cuthbertson's trey from the top of the circle with 14:36 remaining. A 3-pointer from Travis Munnings from the right corner sparked a 13-2 run as ULM cut its deficit to 63-54 on Smith's pull-up jumper in the lane with 10:53 on the clock. Trailing 76-66, JD Williams hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and Munnings scored off an offensive rebound as the Warhawks rallied to within five at 76-71 with 2:50 to play. Amidou Bamba's left-handed layup gave Coastal Carolina an 80-73 advantage with 1:55 left. The Chanticleers converted 10-of-14 free-throw attempts over the final 1:34 to ice the game.
 
"The first 10 minutes of the game were the as poor a stretch as we've played all year," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "We got down big early and it ended up being too much of a deficit to overcome. For the next 30 minutes – the last 10 minutes of the first half and really the entire second half – I thought we played very hard.
 
"We missed two shots right at the basket and had a couple of late turnovers in the second half, and when you're down that big, those little things come back to haunt you. I can think of three turnovers that came after we got some stops and tried to get out on the break. We got within five a couple of times in the second half, but I wish we could have those missed opportunities back to see if we could have gotten the score any closer.
 
"We don't have anybody to blame but ourselves because of our poor start," Richard continued. "I'm really disappointed in our team because we really weren't playing hard enough in the first 10 minutes. Once we finally got things going, we did a lot of good things. This is a good league, so you better come out from the start and play like it's the biggest game of the year every night. We didn't do that tonight, and it cost us."
 
Cuthbertson scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in the second half while Jones netted a career-best 25 points and matched his career high with seven assists. The Chanticleers also got 12 points off the bench from Gumbs-Frater.
 
For the game, Coastal Carolina shot 53 percent (27-of-51) from the floor, including 13-of-29 3-pointers.
 
Four Warhawks scored in double figures, led by Munnings who tossed in 16 second-half points and finished 23, followed by Smith who poured in 21, Michael Ertel who added 15 and Williams who contributed 11.
 
ULM will attempt to earn a split on its Sun Belt road swing at Appalachian State on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. ET. The Mountaineers improved to 7-14 overall and 2-6 in the league with a 104-77 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns Thursday night.  
 
 
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