MONROE, La. – Jamari Blackmon connected on a step-back jumper from the left elbow to give ULM the lead with 29 seconds left before Drue Drinnon's 3-point attempt to try and send the game to overtime fell short, as the Warhawks rallied for a 61-58 win over Texas State to sweep the regular-season series Saturday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
 
The win marks ULM's first this season when trailing at halftime. The winner of each of the previous 18 games of the season led at halftime.
 
"I'm proud of these guys," ULM head coach Keith Richard said. "We talked about this kind of game with Texas State. We knew it was going to be like this: a low possession, grind type game. I thought our players, in the second half, stayed in tune with possession by possession. Not that we had success every possession, but they stayed in the moment. They didn't get out of character. That had a big thing to do with us winning that second half."
 
Blackmon finished with a game-high 24 points, including two free throws to stretch the lead to a full possession, 61-58, with 3.9 seconds left. Thomas Howell added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds for ULM (8-11 overall, 4-2 Sun Belt Conference), while Savion Gallion came off the bench for 11 points and four assists. Mason Harrell led Texas State (10-9, 3-3) with 17 points.
 
Richard credited Blackmon to limiting Harrell to 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
 
"It was a tough effort," Richard said. "Harrell was hunting his shot today. He's such a hard guard because he's a three-level scorer and he's a great free-throw shooter. It takes tremendous concentration in every possession to guard him."
 
After trailing by three at halftime, 25-22, ULM battled back to tie the game at 43 on a free throw by Blackmon with 8:06 left. ULM took the lead on the next possession when Howell hit the front-end of a 1-and-1 to go ahead 44-43. The lead changed hands on each of the next six field goals, as a traditional 3-point play by Howell put ULM on top, 52-50, with 3:00 left.
 
"We ran that play out of a timeout," Richard said of Howell's 3-point play. "He scored it and got fouled. It was big. Thomas was big in the second half. He made some big shots when we were a little bit down and played with a lot of confidence out there. It was good to see him have a good day as well."
 
The Warhawks stretched the lead to four as Blackmon rattled in a baseline jumper with 1:49 remaining. However, Texas State tied the game up as Drinnon made a pair of free throws and Harrell finished a layup on a fast break to tie the game at 55 with 52 seconds remaining.
 
Blackmon hit the step-back jumper from the left elbow with 29 seconds left to put ULM back up, 57-55. After Harrell missed a 3-pointer, ULM's Devon Hancock hit two free throws for his only points of the game to extend the lead to 59-55. Harrell went coast-to-coast for a layup and finished the traditional 3-point play with four seconds left to cut the gap to one, 59-58. Blackmon made two free throws after getting fouled, leading to Drinnon's shot from 30-feet out at the horn, which fell short.
 
Both teams started slow on the offensive end. ULM crawled out to an 8-2 lead on a 3-point play by Blackmon with 13:50 remaining in the first half. Texas State missed its first 13 field-goal attempts before Davion Coleman's floater fell threw to cut the gap to 8-4 with 10:47 to go before halftime. The Warhawks extended the lead to seven on a 3-pointer by Blackmon with 5:41 to go before the break.
 
Texas State battled back to take the lead, 23-22, on a hook shot by Nate Martin with 1:21 left in the half. Brandon Davis followed with a jumper to reach the halftime score, 25-22.
 
ULM shot 46% (22-of-48) from the field and 29% (4-of-14) from 3-point range while hitting 72% (13-of-18) from the free-throw line. Texas State shot 40% (22-of-55) from the field and 23% (3-of-13) from 3-point distance while adding 73% (11-of-15) at the foul line. Texas State outrebounded ULM, 34-30. ULM had nine turnovers to seven for Texas State, but the Warhawks had just two turnovers in the second half.
 
ULM goes on the road for the next four games, starting at 7 p.m. EST/6 p.m. CST Thursday at Georgia Southern.