CONWAY, S.C. – In the team's first visit to Conway since 2021, the ULM men's basketball team (4-12, 0-3 Sun Belt) dropped its third-straight SBC game after a 70-51 defeat to Coastal Carolina (8-7, 1-2) on Saturday (Jan. 4) afternoon at The HTC Center.
 
"Our second-half defense struggled," said ULM Head Coach Keith Richard. "It is hard to win on the road if you are not matching intensity on the defensive end. We did not come out and defend early in the second half like we had done in the first half. We held them to 39% shooting in the first half, but did not defend well at all and had to play from behind and put stress on our offense."
 
The Chanticleers regrouped after the first half and shot 13-for-25 from the field in the second half, good for 52%. Overall, Coastal made 24-of-53 shot attempts from the floor and averaged 45.3% from the field. ULM shot 34.5% from the field and made 10 3-point baskets on 27 attempts. Coastal Carolina outrebounded the Warhawks by 17 and tracked down nine offensive boards. CCU held the lead for nearly 37 minutes, outscoring the Warhawks 24-8 in the paint and finishing with 13 more bench points than ULM.
 
Jerry Ngopot knocked down multiple 3-pointers for the second straight game, finishing with four, and netted 14 points with a trio of rebounds. Coltie Young also scored 14 points and added two steals and four boards. Jacob Wilson tallied eight points in the second half on two 3-pointers while Jalen Bolden registered seven points and five rebounds.
 
For the Chanticleers, Noah Amenhauser paved the way to a team-high 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting performance. RaSheed Jones was the only Chanticleer to convert multiple 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Battle and Naz Brown both turned in nine points.
 
Ngopot drilled ULM's first look from the field on a three-pointer that gave the Warhawks an early 3-2 lead. The Chants surged back in front following a 12-0 scoring run that featured 3-pointers by Jones and Hines. Bolden ended CCU's run with a pullup jumper from the line. Bolden connected on a pullup from the right wing and Young hit a long triple that trimmed Coastal's lead to four points with just over 13 minutes in the half.
 
ULM continued to apply the pressure on the Chanticleers and held the home team scoreless for over five minutes of game time. Young swished his second 3-pointer of the afternoon and then poked a steal that led to a breakaway layup by Bolden that pulled the Warhawks back in front, 15-14. Amenhauser stopped a 12-0 run for the Warhawks with a three-point play to give Coastal back the lead. Following four unanswered points from the Chants, Ngopot sank his second trey of the afternoon to bring ULM within three and Young made a jumper with five minutes remaining to cut Coastal's lead to one. Coastal Carolina closed out the first half on a 13-2 scoring run and seized a 12-point lead at the break.
 
Ngopot's third 3-pointer and a fastbreak layup by Young whittled the Chants' lead to 11 early in the second half. The Chants increased the lead to 18 after a 7-0 run, forcing a ULM timeout with 15:15 remaining. Wilson connected on his first 3-point attempt of the second half to end the Chants' run. Coastal held the Warhawks to zero field goals over four minutes and pushed its lead to 23 points with 10 minutes remaining. Makai Willis buried his first 3-pointer of the game to cut CCU's lead to 20 with 10 minutes remaining.
 
Three-pointers by Willis and Ngopot and a pair of buckets by Ngopot and Wilson completed a 10-2 Warhawk run that trimmed Coastal's lead to 15 with 7:10 remaining. Young buried his third 3-pointer that brought ULM within 14 points with 2:54 left, which was the closest the Warhawks would be within Coastal's lead for the remainder of the game.
 
The ULM men's basketball team will play at Southern Miss on Thursday (Jan. 9) night at 7 p.m. from Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg.