BATON ROUGE, La. – Jalen Bolden scored a career-high 25 points on an 11-for-22 shooting night to lead all scorers but the ULM men's basketball team (1-1) fell in its first road game of the season to LSU (1-0) 95-60 on Wednesday (Nov. 6) night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
 
Playing 30 minutes away from his hometown of Zachary, Louisiana, Bolden scored 14 points in the first half and 11 down the stretch in his career performance.
 
"Jalen scored the ball well tonight no question about it," said ULM men's basketball head coach Keith Richard. "It's good for him to come home and play well in front of his family and friends. It's good for us to know he can have those nights."
 
LSU shot 50.7% from the field on 34-of-67 shooting as two Tigers finished above the 20-point mark. Jalen Reed led the way with 24 points while Cam Carter added 21.
 
"LSU's length really bothered us on both ends of the floor," said Richard. "It was a one-point game midway through the first half, and then it got away from us. We were getting some plays inside, but we couldn't finish."
 
LSU poured in 46 points in the paint while ULM scored 24 inside. The Tigers led by as many as 26 in the first half after leading by just one point with under 12 minutes to go in the first. LSU's largest lead of the night was 38 points in the second half.
 
Joining Bolden in double figures was Jerry Ngopot with 12 points and a team-high six boards. Tyreese Watson finished with nine points, two rebounds and a steal and assist to highlight ULM's top performers.
 
On ULM's first possession, Ngopot sank his first attempt from the field on a turnaround jumper for the first points of the night. LSU's Reed scored six straight points for the Tigers to put the home team ahead. After Watson made one of two free throws, Reed made another layup and Dji Bailey scored on a steal from Robert Miller III to force a ULM timeout.
 
ULM found its groove offensively out of the timeout as Jacob Wilson drained the Warhawks' first three-pointer of the game on an assist by Sondors. After an LSU four-point play, Bolden made a three and Wilson knocked in a pair of free throws to pull ULM within three. ULM cut LSU's lead to one point when AD Diedhiou stripped the ball away from a Tiger and Bolden finished at the other end with a breakaway layup.
 
The Tigers pushed their lead to double digits following an 11-0 scoring run that included four points by Reed. Bolden ended LSU's scoring spree with a tough jumper in the paint. LSU extended its lead further and led by as many as 26 points in the first half. Bolden cashed in a three from just beyond the midcourt line at the buzzer for his 14^th point of the first half and his second triple as the half closed with LSU leading, 50-27.
 
LSU made its first seven out of 10 shot attempts in the second half and outscored ULM 16-7 in the first five minutes as Ngopot scored four of the Warhawks' first points of the second half. Watson ended a scoring drought of over two-and-a-half minutes for the Warhawks by converting a pair of free throws at the 13:33 mark. Watson skipped a pass to Diedhiou for a layup and Watson drove to the rack and fought through a foul for another Warhawk layup.
 
Bolden scored his 17^th point on a pull-up jumper just beyond the free-throw line at the 6:32 mark of the second half to seal his career high. After a Ngopot layup, Bolden dumped in two fastbreak layups to complete an 8-0 run for ULM. Bolden scored two more buckets down the stretch to push his total to 25 points.
 
The ULM men's basketball team continues its road stretch Friday (Nov. 8) night in New Orleans at Tulane with game time set for 6:30 p.m.
 
"We want to take the good things we did tonight and build on that," said Richard. "Some of the things out on the court we couldn't control because of their length that we did not do well on, but some we could. We will review those things before Friday."