Daishon Smith jumper vs. Georgia Southern 2019
Siddharth Gaulee
79
GEORGIA SOUTHERN GS 14-10, 6-5
88
Winner ULM ULM 13-10, 6-5
GEORGIA SOUTHERN GS
14-10, 6-5
79
Final
88
ULM ULM
13-10, 6-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
GEORGIA SOUTHERN GS 36 43 79
ULM ULM 39 49 88

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Smith Turns Tragedy into Triumph in Tribute to Late Brother; ULM Sprints Past Georgia Southern, 88-79

By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

MONROE, La. –  Daishon Smith faced a family tragedy this week and used his basketball gifts to pay tribute the most appropriate way he knew how.  

"My little brother on my dad's side passed on Tuesday," Smith revealed publicly Friday after scoring 38 points in ULM's 88-79 win over Georgia Southern. "He actually was killed. I just wanted to come out here and play for him."

Marquis Smith had just turned 17 in January. He was in "the wrong place with the wrong crowd," his brother said. 

"My little sister told me not to hang my head," Smith said. "Know that he loved me, play hard for him and go out there and give it everything I've got. I wanted to do it for him." 

Smith, who scored 36 Wednesday night in a win over Georgia State, delivered another uplifting stat line with five 3-pointers, six rebounds, 13-of-15 free throws and six assists in 40 minutes. After each big play or big shot, he held his hands up high and showed more emotion on the court than he has all season. 

"His brother must have been with him," said ULM guard Michael Ertel. "He was unbelievable the last two games."
 
"The guys have been very supportive," Smith said. "I broke it down to a few of the guys. I kind of kept things in house, but some of the guys reached out to me and told me to keep doing what I'm doing."

A season-high crowd of 5,366 was there to support Smith and the Warhawks (13-10, 6-5 in the Sun Belt Conference), who improved to 11-1 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.  

Travis Munnings scored 17 points to go along with 11 rebounds while Ertel added 15 points and five boards. JD Williams scored 10. 

"I'm really proud of our team and their mental toughness in this game," ULM coach Keith Richard said. "This was a hard game to play."

Tookie Brown led Georgia Southern (14-10, 6-5) with 28 points in another offensive showdown for the Warhawks, who had lost three straight coming into their two-game homestand. 

"They were hard to stop, and they had hard time stopping us," Richard said. "But we did get a few stops down the stretch which were critical, critical stops." 

ULM led 39-36 at the half behind 17 points from Smith. The first half featured seven ties with neither team leading by more than six points. Brown paced Georgia Southern with 10 points. 

The tight-knit nature of the game continued into the second half. ULM scored the first five to go up by eight but Georgia Southern responded.
  
Brown's 3-point play at the 16:11 mark gave the Eagles a 52-49 lead, their first time ahead since 14:52 remained in the first half. 

Georgia Southern led by as many as five points before ULM regained the lead with 8:32 to go and started building on it. Four turnovers by the Eagles over a stretch of nearly three minutes allowed ULM to build a 71-65 advantage on a pair of Smith free throws at the 6:51 mark. 

Smith helped put the finishing touches on Georgia Southern's hopes with a pair of 3-pointers that pushed the lead up to 77-68 with 3:34 left.  

"That's two games in a row where in crunch time, we made a few plays," Richard said. "This is what it's all about in close games. Who makes the plays on either team at critical moments? We've had some games where we haven't. These two games right here we made the plays at the right moments."

Up next: ULM stays in state for a date at Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off is 7 p.m. The Warhawks won a 99-95 tussle in Monroe on Jan. 19. 

Tailfeathers: Munnings, Ertel, J.D. Williams and Smith all played 40 minutes. … Smith reached double figures in scoring for the 16th-straight game. … Georgia Southern won the first meeting, 79-78, on Jan. 10. … The ULM baseball team signed schedule posters in the Fant-Ewing Coliseum concourse before the game and before being recognized on the court at halftime. … Most of ULM's players went into the stands to thank fans after the game, going as high as the yellow seats to greet the Riser Middle School Beta Club students in attendance. … With Friday's crowd, ULM has topped 5,000 three times this season. There were 5,206 fans on hand for South Alabama (Jan. 26) and 5,107 for Troy (Jan. 24). 
 
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