Koreem Ozier pull-up vs. LA Tech
68
Winner Louisiana Tech LATech 7-2,0-0 C-USA
57
La.-Monroe ULM 2-5,0-0 Sun Belt
Winner
Louisiana Tech LATech
7-2,0-0 C-USA
68
Final
57
La.-Monroe ULM
2-5,0-0 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Louisiana Tech LATech 34 34 68
La.-Monroe ULM 32 25 57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Late Drought Costs ULM in Home Loss to LA Tech, 68-57

By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

MONROE, La. – ULM came close but couldn't close out Louisiana Tech on Tuesday night.

The Warhawks faded down the stretch in a 68-57 loss to the Bulldogs at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Louisiana Tech (7-2) finished the game on a 19-7 run to beat ULM (2-5) for second time this month. ULM opened the season in Ruston on Dec. 3 with a 78-62 loss to the Bulldogs.

"I thought we played our hearts out," said ULM coach Keith Richard, who served as head coach at Tech from 1998 to 2007. "We played with great effort the whole game. I told our guys to beat this group, with the effort, we'd have to execute well offensively. We talked about it before the game. Then also along the way, we needed to make some shots. We didn't quite make enough."

Overall, the game featured six lead changes and five ties. ULM held its last lead at 50-49 with 8:52 left in regulation.

"What I want to take away from this game is, there was a lot of good for us in this game," Richard said. "Within the game itself, I thought from the first time we played them until right now, there's some good basketball being played."

Chris Efretuei paced ULM with 12 points but only two in the second half. Koreem Ozier scored 11 with seven rebounds and Russell Harrison added 10 for ULM, which shot 38 percent overall and made just 4-of-10 free throws.

Cobe Williams and Kaleb Ledoux led Tech with 13 points each. The Bulldogs shot 44 percent from the floor but supplemented their scoring with 14-of-21 free-throw shooting.

"To be able to come on the road and beat a team for the second time and do it in their building was really important for us," Tech coach Eric Konkol said. "And to do it this way, battling through adversity, not making shots, turning the basketball over and still finding a way."

The Warhawks started fast and stayed in control for much of the game before their late drought.

ULM opened the game with a 7-0 rush as Tech missed its first five shots and took almost four minutes to score.

Exavian Christon tallied nine of Tech's first 12 points, hitting three 3-pointers. The Bulldogs used the long ball to claw back, drawing within 22-20 with 7:52 remaining on Ledoux's 3-pointer.

ULM led until the 6:33 mark, when Tech tied the score at 24-24 on a layup by Williams. The Bulldogs claimed their first lead at 28-26 on Ledoux's 3-pointer with 3:48 to go before the half.

After falling behind by six points 32-26, ULM responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game for the second time. Tech's JaColby Pemberton knocked down a pair of free throws with 30 seconds showing and the visitors went into halftime leading 34-32.

Efretuei delivered a strong first half with 10 points and three rebounds. ULM outscored Tech, 20-8, in the paint and led for 14:26 of the first half.

A 12-2 run to ignite the second half catapulted ULM to its biggest lead at 44-36, when Luke Phillips hit a 3-pointer with 14:41 left in the game.

But Tech regained the lead at 49-47 as ULM suffered through a scoring drought that lasted almost four minutes.

ULM claimed a brief edge at 50-49 on Marco Morency's 3-pointer, but the Bulldogs responded with a 10-0 run. ULM went more than five minutes again without scoring and made five turnovers as the deficit grew.

"That was the difference in the game in my opinion," Richard said. "I think we had some turnovers in that stretch too that just killed us. We needed to keep pace with them, take this thing to the end in a close game and we didn't in that five-minute stretch. It ended up costing us."

Tail feathers: ULM has completed its non-conference schedule and is set to open Sun Belt Conference play with a home series Jan. 1-2 against Arkansas State. ,,, Tuesday's contest was the 90th meeting between ULM and Tech. Tech leads the series 54-36. … ULM's last victory in the series came at home on Jan. 28, 1991, 100-89.
 
Print Friendly Version