Josh Nicholas dribble vs. Little Rock Game 1 2020-21
62
La.-Monroe ULM 4-12,2-7 Sun Belt
66
Winner Little Rock LR 9-7,5-4 Sun Belt
La.-Monroe ULM
4-12,2-7 Sun Belt
62
Final
66
Little Rock LR
9-7,5-4 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 31 31 62
Little Rock LR 36 30 66

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Comes Up Short in Series Opener at Little Rock, 66-62

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Nikola Maric and Markquis Nowell scored 17 points each to lead Little Rock to a 66-62 home-court win over ULM Friday night in the opening game of a Sun Belt Conference weekend series. The Trojans outscored the Warhawks, 13-2, over the final 3:39 to overcome a seven-point deficit.
 
Little Rock (9-7, 5-4 Sun Belt) opened the game with a 9-2 run, but ULM scored seven-straight points to pull to within 11-9 on a four-point play by Josh Nicholas with 14:55 left in the first half.
 
Ruot Monyyong hit a jumper from the free-throw line to key a 13-4 spurt as Little Rock built its largest lead at 24-13 on Nowell's shot from the left elbow, off an offensive rebound, with 7:59 remaining in the opening half.
 
Trailing 27-16, ULM (4-12, 2-7) put together a 10-3 run and cut its deficit to 30-26 as Nicholas finished the fast break with a layup and free throw with 3:44 to play in the first half.
 
The Trojans made four of their last five field-goal attempts and carried a 36-31 lead into the intermission.
 
Little Rock shot 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field in the first half and converted ULM's 10 turnovers into 15 points.
 
There were three ties and two lead changes in the second half.
 
A rebound basket by Luke Phillips sparked a 9-0 run as the Warhawks built a 42-38 lead on Koreem Ozier's pull-up jumper from the right elbow with 14:35 remaining in the second half. Chris Efretuei's layup gave ULM its first lead, 40-38, at the 15:50 mark.
 
The Trojans cut their deficit to one at 51-50 on Marko Lukic's three-point play with 8:39 left.
 
Nicholas drove the left baseline for a layup and free throw and Ozier connected on a deep 3-pointer from the left wing as ULM built its largest lead at 59-52 with 5:01 on the clock. The Warhawks maintained their seven-point advantage at 60-53 as Phillips converted 1-of-2 free-throw attempts with 4:36 to play.
 
Maric's left-handed hook in the lane fueled a 9-0 run as Little Rock regained the lead at 62-60 on a pair of free throws from Nowell with 48 seconds left. ULM pulled even at 62-all on Ozier's step-back 15-footer from the right elbow with 39 seconds remaining.
 
The Trojans took the lead for good at 64-62 on another Maric hook shot with 19 seconds to play. Monyyong added two free throws with 4 seconds left to account for the final margin.
 
Little Rock hit four of its last five field-goal attempts while ULM went 1-for-7 from the floor down the stretch. The Warhawks had limited the Trojans to 6-of-23 shooting (26 percent) through the first 16:21 of the second half.
  
"That was a fantastic effort by our team," ULM head coach Keith Richard said, "but as I told the them in the locker room, you've got to make plays in the closing minutes of games to beat good people. We didn't do it. A couple two or three plays was all it took – a turnover and couple of missed shots at the rim – to change the outcome. It's a real shame. I'm sick about it because they did almost everything right to win that game, but the game is 40 minutes, and you've got to finish it out.
 
"I told them in the last (media) timeout that we needed to keep scoring because I knew Little Rock was going to make a hard push here at home. We didn't score enough in the last 3 1/2 minutes, and that's how games are won or lost on the road. We simply didn't execute well enough down the stretch.
 
"Again, I hate it for our kids because they played their tails off. It's unfortunate because we didn't play well in the final moments, in particular, on the offensive end."
 
Little Rock outrebounded ULM, 39-29, with 15 of those boards coming off the offensive glass.
 
"Little Rock is way taller on the frontline, but we really battled on the glass," Richard said. "Our guys had to tip the ball a lot because they couldn't secure the rebound clean sometimes."
 
Maric, who made 8-of-12 field-goal attempts, also collected a game-high nine rebounds while Nowell added six rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Trojans also got 12 points from Ben Coupet Jr.
 
Ozier scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Warhawks, with 16 of those coming in the second half. He finished 8-of-17 from the floor, including 3-of-7 3-pointers.
 
Nicholas connected on 5-of-7 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 3s, and all three free-throw attempts for 15 points.
 
Phillips, who contributed nine points and six rebounds Friday, didn't participate in Thursday's practice in Jack Stephens Center, so he could remain at the team hotel and watch the online funeral service for his 85-year-old grandfather Frederick "Jim" Beard from Adelaide, Australia.
 
ULM is playing this weekend series at Little Rock without its leading scorer (13.5 points per game) and rebounder (5.5 rpg.), Russell Harrison, who traveled to Lubbock, Texas, to celebrate the birth of his first child, son Zyren.
 
Four of ULM's seven conference losses have come by a combined total of 13 points.
 
The Warhawks will attempt to earn a split in the Sun Belt weekend series at Little Rock on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 4 p.m.
 
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