Nika Metskhvarishvili game-winning 3 at Arkansas State 2022
Luke Richard/ULM Athletics
60
Winner La.-Monroe ULM 11-12,3-8 Sun Belt
59
Arkansas St. ASU 14-6,5-3 Sun Belt
Winner
La.-Monroe ULM
11-12,3-8 Sun Belt
60
Final
59
Arkansas St. ASU
14-6,5-3 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 26 34 60
Arkansas St. ASU 29 30 59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Stages Second-Half Comeback; Mets Hits Game-Winning 3 at A-State

JONESBORO, Ark. – Andre Jones matched his season high with 21 points and Nika Metskhvarishvili buried the game-winning 3-pointer from the left corner with 16.6 seconds left as ULM stormed back from a 14-point second-half deficit for a 60-59 victory at Arkansas State Thursday night.
 
"That's a really good win," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "Our guys never quit. Even when we got down by 14 early in the second half, they kept playing hard. We began missing some plays at the rim early in the second half, which allowed A-State to get out in transition and score. Their guards are really fast. We needed some makes to slow down their transition game. Finally, we started finishing plays at the rim. Those makes combined with our 2-3 zone helped get us back into the game. The zone was really good to us, then we switched to our man-to-man for the last five minutes, and I thought our guys really showed some grit down the stretch."
 
The Warhawks snapped a four-game losing streak in Sun Belt Conference play while winning for just the second time in 18 games at First National Bank Arena.
 
Arkansas State jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but ULM (11-12, 3-8 Sun Belt) answered with a 15-4 run to take a 17-10 lead on Koreem Ozier's 3-pointer from the right wing with 11:50 left in the first half. The Red Wolves responded with a 10-5 spurt and pulled to within 22-20 on Keyon Wesley's layup with 7:11 on the clock. A pair of free throws from Langston Powell gave the Warhawks a 24-20 lead with 6:09 remaining. A-State outscored ULM, 9-2, over the last 5:46 to take a 29-26 lead into the intermission.
 
The Warhawks made only one of their last 11 first-half field-goal attempts and went the last 4:51 without a basket.
 
A-State (14-6, 5-3) opened the second half with a 12-4 run to build a 41-28 advantage on Wesley's dunk with 15:58 on the clock. ULM went 6:52 between made field goals, from the first to second half. The Red Wolves led by as many as 14 points twice – the last time at 48-34 on an alley-oop dunk by Markise Davis with 12:00 left. ULM reeled off 11 consecutive points and cut its deficit to three at 48-45 on a dunk by Jones with 8:31 to go. The Warhawks went 5-for-5 from the floor during the stretch while A-State missed five-straight shots during a four-minute scoring drought.
 
ULM got two free throws from Russell Harrison and Jones connected on a 3 from the left wing out of a timeout to tie the score at 52-all with 5:16 remaining. Norchad Omier made two free throws and scored on a rebound dunk as the Red Wolves grabbed a 56-52 advantage with 3:44 to play. Harrison knocked down a 17-foot, step-back jumper from the left side of the lane as the Warhawks rallied to within 56-54 with 2:56 on the clock. After Desi Sills converted two free throws to extend A-State's lead to 58-54, Ozier answered with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to pull ULM back to within one at 58-57 with 2:23 left. Caleb Fields hit the first of two free-throw attempts to give the Red Wolves a 59-57 advantage with 41.9 seconds remaining. Ozier drove down the lane and passed the ball out to Metskhvarishvili, who delivered the go-ahead 3 with 16.6 seconds on the clock. It marked ULM's first lead since 26-24 at the 4:51 mark in the opening half.
 
"Nika had two good looks from 3 tonight, and he missed the first one," Richard said. "We put the ball in Koreem Ozier's hands in that late-game situation because he had a better match-up defensively and could get into the lane. Sure enough, Koreem penetrated into the lane and found Nika wide open in the corner. And I can tell you he doesn't miss many of those (shots)."
 
The Warhawks had to come up with two defensive stops in the closing seconds to preserve the lead. First, Sills missed a layup with :02 left, but Omier gathered the offensive rebound and A-State called a 30-second timeout. Off the inbound pass, Fields misfired on a desperation, off-balance 3-point attempt from the top of the circle as time expired.
 
"Thomas Howell battled the best he could against Norchad Omier," Richard said. "Omier is a handful in the low post, and he has great hands. Arkansas State tried to run the last inbound play for Omier, but Thomas stayed strong in there and wouldn't allow him to dive to the basket."
 
For the game, ULM hit 23-of-53 field-goal attempts (43 percent), including 5-of-12 3-pointers (42 percent). By comparison, A-State shot 36 percent (22-of-61) from the floor, including just 4-of-22 from 3-point range (18 percent). The Red Wolves outrebounded the Warhawks, 42-33, and enjoyed a 16-4 advantage in second-chance points, thanks to 16 offensive rebounds.
 
Jones made 10-of-17 shots from the field, including 1-of-2 3s, and finished with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
"Andre Jones played his best game of the year," Richard said. "It wasn't just that he scored 21 points, but he played his best defensive game as well. Andre was really in tune to what we were trying to do on both ends of the floor. He really had a great game."
 
Ozier contributed 14 points, with nine coming in the second half, and nine rebounds to match his career high.
 
Harrison, who went scoreless in the first 20 minutes, scored nine second-half points.
 
"Russell Harrison didn't score in the first half, but he hit some big free throws and a big basket from the baseline in the second half," Richard said.
 
Omier recorded his 10th consecutive double-double with 23 points and an arena-record 26 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards.
 
A-State also got 14 points from Wesley, who connected on 7-of-8 field-goal attempts.
 
The Red Wolves' three starting guards (Sills 3-of-11, Eaton 1-of-9 and Fields 1-of-11) went a combined 5-of-34 from the floor (14 percent), including 3-of-16 from 3-point range.
 
"Koreem Ozier played a tremendous defensive game against Marquis Eaton," Richard said. "He held Eaton to three points and came up with a couple of key steals."
 
The Warhawks conclude their weekend Sun Belt road swing at Little Rock on Saturday, Feb. 5, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. ULM is seeking its first Sun Belt road sweep since February 2018 when the Warhawks produced a pair of overtime victories at Georgia Southern (66-64) and Georgia State (90-82).
 
Andre Jones jump shot at Arkansas State 2022

 
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