Andre Jones dribble drive vs Arkansas State 2022 SBC Championship
Luke Richard/ULM Athletics
77
La.-Monroe ULM 13-18,5-13 Sun Belt
81
Winner Arkansas St. ASU 18-10,8-7 Sun Belt
La.-Monroe ULM
13-18,5-13 Sun Belt
77
Final
81
Arkansas St. ASU
18-10,8-7 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 42 35 77
Arkansas St. ASU 39 42 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Loses Sun Belt Tournament Heartbreaker to A-State, 81-77

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Norchad Omier scored a career-high 35 points and collected 13 rebounds to lead No. 6-seed Arkansas State to an 81-77 victory over No. 11-seed ULM Thursday in the first round of the 2022 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center. Omier netted 22 second-half points as A-State rallied from a seven-point deficit over the final eight minutes.
 
It marked the third meeting of the season between ULM and Arkansas State. The Warhawks and Red Wolves split the regular-season series, with each team winning on the opponent's home court. The first two games were decided by a combined total of eight points.
 
Thursday night's tournament game featured six lead changes and six ties.
 
Arkansas State (18-10) jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but ULM answered by scoring seven of the next eight points and took a 9-6 advantage on a jumper by Elijah Gonzales from inside the top of the circle with 14:51 left in the first half. A rebound basket by Markise Davis and Desi Sills' 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Red Wolves a 29-28 lead with 5:35 on the clock. ULM (13-18) regained the lead at 31-29 on Andre Jones' 3 from beyond the top of the circle, but A-State pulled even at 31-all as Omier scored over Nika Metskhvarishvili in the lane. A layup by Jones, off a nifty feed from Metskhvarishvili, sparked a 9-0 run as ULM took its largest lead at 40-31 on Langston Powell's layup with 2:10 remaining. The Red Wolves outscored the Warhawks, 8-2, over the final 1:58 and cut their halftime deficit to 42-39 as Malcolm Farrington buried a 3-pointer from the top of the circle at the buzzer.
 
ULM shot 57 percent (17-of-30) from the field, including 5-of-9 3-pointers (56 percent), over the first 20 minutes. Russell Harrison (14 points) and Jones (11) combined for 25 first-half points for the Warhawks.
 
A-State opened the second half with a 13-5 spurt and claimed at 52-47 advantage on back-to-back baskets by Omier with 16:23 on the clock. A layup from Thomas Howell fueled a 14-2 run as ULM extended its lead to 61-54 as Gonzales connected on a runner in the lane with 11:10 remaining. The Warhawks maintained their seven-point advantage at 63-56 as Omier and Jones traded baskets. Jones hit a pair of free throws to give ULM a 72-66 lead with 4:24 to play. A-State reeled off eight consecutive points to take a 74-72 lead on Omier's layup with 2:05 left. Harrison followed with a clutch, 17-foot fall-away jumper from the right wing to tie the score at 74-all with 1:39 on the clock. The Red Wolves scored the next seven points to take control down the stretch. Marquis Eaton's pull-up jumper from outside the paint gave A-State the lead for good at 76-74 with 1:10 to go. Eaton converted four-straight free throws in the final 23 seconds to extend the advantage to 80-74. ULM went 0-for-3 from the field during A-State's decisive run.
 
"Wow, what a game!" ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "That was our third game playing against Arkansas State, and all three of those games were just like that in terms of exciting, back-and-forth action. It was another game of runs. Congratulations to Arkansas State for moving on.
 
"I'm really proud of our team. I tip my hat to these guys because they played hard in almost every game, and we gave ourselves a chance to win many, many times. The game tonight ended up being like so many games we had in conference play. We just didn't do enough at the end to go win it. We probably played a dozen games in conference play just like tonight where we weren't able to hold the other team off (protect the lead) or make enough plays on offense or defense to go win it. I told the team after the game that it's not anybody's fault. It's just one of those years.
 
"We had so many close, heart-breaking losses that it's emotionally had to absorb as a team, but our team never broke," Richard continued. "They also bounced back in the next game and gave it their best effort, which gave us a chance to win again."
 
For the game, ULM hit 31-of-59 field-goal attempts (53 percent), including 9-of-18 3s (50 percent). A-State outscored the Warhawks, 21-6, from the free-throw line. The Red Wolves outrebounded ULM, 42-25, and held a 19-9 advantage in second-chance points, thanks to 15 offensive boards.
 
Omier, who recorded his 19th double-double of the season, made 13-of-21 shots from the floor and 9-of-12 free-throw attempts.
 
"Norchad Omier is the MVP of the league," Richard said. "He's a really good player. He scored a lot of points and had a lot of rebounds tonight and played a major factor in winning the game. But as good as Omier was tonight, we still had our chances to win the game.
 
"We had a few turnovers in the last four minutes where we didn't get a shot up on the rim, and those really hurt. Despite all of his points and rebounds, we still could have won the game. We just didn't."
 
A-State also got 13 points from Eaton, 11 from Farrington and 10 from Sills.
 
Jones led the Warhawks with 24 points, six rebounds and four assists. It marked his eighth 20-point game of the season. Jones connected on 10-of-22 shots from the field, including 1-of-3 3-pointers, and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.
 
"Andre Jones has been really good the last six weeks of the conference season," Richard said. "He made a lot of big plays for us. The one thing that helped Andre was that early in conference play, we were without (point guard) Elijah Gonzales for four games, so he had to become the primary ball-handler while Elijah was out of lineup. That role was very taxing for him. When Elijah came back, it allowed Andre to move in and out of that role as the primary ball-handler. So, Andre could take some breaks from that role and just go be a scorer. He got on a big role (six-straight 20-point games) and played really well down the stretch. The coaches voted him all-conference, and Andre had that kind of year."
 
Harrison, who went 5-of-8 from the floor including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, finished with 16 points. Ozier contributed 10 points and six rebounds while Metskhvarishvili added 10 points and four boards.
 
With the win, A-State advances to play No. 3-seed Georgia State in the Sun Belt Conference Championship quarterfinals on Saturday, March 5 at 5 p.m.
 
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