JD Williams dunk vs. Texas State 2019
Brendan Maloney
63
Winner ULM ULM 14-11, 7-6
60
Texas State TXST 21-6, 10-4
Winner
ULM ULM
14-11, 7-6
63
Final
60
Texas State TXST
21-6, 10-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
ULM ULM 36 27 63
Texas State TXST 28 32 60

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Defense Carries ULM Past First-Place Texas State, 63-60

SAN MARCOS, Texas – ULM limited first-place Texas State to 33 percent (21-of-64) shooting from the field and nearly 15 points below its season scoring average as the Warhawks recorded their first Sun Belt road victory, 63-60, Thursday (Feb. 21) night at Strahan Arena.
 
There were eight lead changes and one tie in the opening half.
 
ULM (14-11, 7-6 Sun Belt) jumped out to a 6-0 lead on Daishon Smith's steal and dunk with 18:22 left in the first half, but the Bobcats responded by reeling off 10-straight points to take a 10-6 lead on Eric Terry's rebound goal with 14:43 on the clock. The two teams went scoreless for nearly two minutes midway through the first half. Trailing 23-20, JD Williams hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to spark a 16-5 run as the Warhawks took a 36-28 lead into the halftime intermission. ULM outscored Texas State, 11-2, over the last 4:59, with the Bobcats' only points coming from the free-throw line with 22 seconds left in the half.
 
The Warhawks hit 15-of-28 first-half field-goal attempts (54 percent) while holding Texas State to 9-of-30 shooting (30 percent) from the floor.
 
The Bobcats cut their deficit to four points at 42-38 as Alex Peacock drove the left side of the lane for a layup with 14:02 remaining in the game. The Warhawks answered with a 6-0 spurt and pushed its lead to 10 at 48-38 on Tyree White's alley-oop dunk from Smith with 11:38 on the clock. Travis Munnings buried back-to-back 3-pointers from the left wing to give ULM its largest lead at 54-40 with 8:17 to play. Munnings accounted for eight points during a 12-2 run over a 5:28 stretch in the second half.
 
The Warhawks enjoyed a 12-point advantage, 59-47, after Smith connected on 3 from the right wing with 5:55 left. Tre Nottingham made a 3-pointer from straightaway to fuel an 8-2 run as Texas State (21-6, 10-4) managed to pull to within 61-55 on Nijal Pearson's layup with 1:51 remaining. Smith scored on a back-door cut from Munnings to give ULM an eight-point cushion at 63-55 at the 1:26 mark. Nottingham delivered another triple from beyond the top of the circle, and after Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one, Terry scored on a left-handed layup as the Bobcats rallied to within 63-60 with 39 seconds on the clock. In the closing seconds, Smith blocked a potential game-tying 3-point field-goal attempt by Nottingham, who collected the loose ball and launched a desperation 3 that hit high off the backboard as time expired.
 
"It took a courageous effort by our team to play that brand of basketball on both ends of the floor," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "Our players did a great job on offense and defense.
 
"We really won this game over the first 38 minutes and had to battle not to let it slip away in the last two minutes. We missed a layup, missed a free throw and turned the ball over a couple of times, but we had just enough offense and won it with our defense at the end.
 
"It was a physical game," Richard continued. "The refs let the teams play on both ends of the floor. It became a tough-man's game, and we haven't won a lot of those games. This was a great road win for us, and the road woes are officially over in conference play."
 
Four Warhawks scored in double figures, led by Munnings and Michael Ertel who scored 13 points each. Williams added 11 points and Andre Washington came off the bench to contribute 10.
 
"Andre really played well," Richard said. "When he scores 10 points for us, that's a big thing because we're not necessarily counting on him as a scorer. But we needed every one of his points in this game."
 
Smith, who came into the game averaging 22.0 points per game, finished with nine points, five rebounds, seven assists, a blocked shot and two steals.
 
"Daishon took what the defense gave him tonight, and that's what good players do," Richard said. "It wasn't about him scoring tonight. They were doubling him on ball screens and digging down hard whenever he put the ball on the floor. So, he needed to be a passer and facilitator tonight. That's a sign of maturity, especially from a guy like him who has had some big (scoring) nights. I thought Daishon played really, really well in this game."
 
Youry White, who was sidelined for the first 12 games of the season with a knee injury, earned his first career start at one of the forward positions. He scored two points, collected five rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes.
 
"I started Youry because I've been having a hard time getting him into games," Richard said. "Sometimes, I get lost in the game and forget about him. Texas State has a lot of muscle in the post, and Youry gave us a chance in there. He became up with a big steal in the lane late in the game.
 
"We've been rotating Andre (Washington) and Tyree (White) at the 5 all year, but we wanted to try and go with a little bigger lineup tonight. We played Youry and Andre at the 5 and kept Tyree at the 4 along with Travis (Munnings). And when we subbed for JD (Williams), we put Travis at the 3. We hoped these moves would help us defensively … help us get five-to-10 more stops in the game. I thought the lineup changes helped a lot, especially in the first half. We also were very mindful of our help and recovery off the dribble. We didn't get beat off the dribble nearly as much tonight. In this particular game, it was the right move and it had a lot to do with Texas State's 33-percent field-goal shooting."
 
ULM's bench outscored Texas State's reserves, 15-0. The Warhawks led the game for nearly 30 of the 40 minutes.
 
Nottingham, who hit 5-of-14 3-pointers, scored a game-high 22 points to pace the Bobcats, while Terry recorded a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds (6 offensive boards).
 
Pearson, who came into the game with an 18.5 scoring average, went 3-for-16 from the field, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range, and finished with eight points.
 
ULM will attempt to complete the Sun Belt road sweep at UT Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 23, with tipoff set for 2 p.m.
 
 
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