Thomas Howell dunk vs Lamar 2020
Siddharth Gaulee/ULM Photo Services
63
Winner Lamar University Lamar 1-4,0-0 Southland
60
La.-Monroe ULM 1-2,0-0 Sun Belt
Winner
Lamar University Lamar
1-4,0-0 Southland
63
Final
60
La.-Monroe ULM
1-2,0-0 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Lamar University Lamar 25 38 63
La.-Monroe ULM 36 24 60

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Drops Home Opener Against Lamar on Desperation 3 Buzzer Beater

By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

MONROE, La. – ULM's home opener was a heartbreaker.

Lamar's Davion Buster nailed a half-court 3-pointer as time expired and that was the difference in a 63-60 win over the Warhawks at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

ULM led by as many as 13 points early in the second half and had the edge late before a cold stretch let Lamar (1-4) creep back into the game.

"For their team, when you're on the road, that's how you draw it up to win on the road," ULM coach Keith Richard said. "You keep it close, keep hanging around, make a push in the last four minutes and hope something good happens at the end. That's exactly what they did. It's a tough loss for us."

The Cardinals used a 9-0 run to tie ULM at 55-55 on Buster's 3-pointer with 3:44 left in the contest. Russell Harrison's jumper with 2:32 to go ended the ULM scoring drought.

Buster's 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining gave Lamar its first lead since the first half at 60-58.

Koreem Ozier's struggles at the free-throw line followed him to crunch time. With ULM trailing 60-58, Ozier missed two free throws with 19 seconds left in the game and he finished 0-for-7 from the stripe.

Harrison rebounded a missed free throw by Lamar and Marco Morency's jumper with 8 seconds tied the game at 60 before Buster's dagger 3-ball.

"We let him get a couple of them off," Richard said of Buster, who scored 16 points with four 3-pointers in his season debut. "But the last one, that was way, way out there, almost to half court."

For ULM, Harrison made a splashy home debut with 22 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Josh Nicholas came off the bench to score 11 points for the Warhawks (1-2).

The game featured four ties and just three lead changes with the Warhawks in control for most of the night.

With 11:32 remaining in the first half, Lamar led ULM, 13-11 as the Warhawks committed seven turnovers in the first 8:28.

Strong bench play helped turn the game around as Nicholas came in to help spark a 9-0 run that put ULM up 20-13. The Warhawks held a 17-5 edge in bench scoring over the first 20 minutes.

"He had tremendous energy," Richard said of Nicholas. "He got some steals and was running the break. He did a decent job in the second half and got a little tired and started getting lost on defense."

ULM finished the first half with a defensive flourish to lead 36-25 by the break. The Warhawks scored 15 points off turnovers and held Lamar without a field goal over the last 4:10 of the half.

"I thought we played a really good first half," Richard said. "I thought we were in and out struggling to score but had some runs in the second half. We really hurt ourselves offensively. To keep a nine or 10-point lead, you can't turn the ball over, you've got to make free throws and not give them any layups. You have to make everything hard for them and we didn't do that."

Quinlan Bennett led Lamar with 17 points and Avery Sullivan added 15.

Tail feathers: ULM is scheduled to play host to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m. … Former ULM football standout David Dumars returned to Monroe as an assistant coach for the Lamar basketball team. … Harrison with nine points and six rebounds led ULM in the first-half box score. Nicholas scored 7 points in the first half.
 
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