UALR SPORTS INFORMATION
MONROE, La. – UALR pulled as close as six in the second half, but a cold-shooting night prevented the Trojans (12-14, 7-7 SBC) from getting any closer as ULM (8-12, 5-7 SBC) pulled away for a 65-49 win at Fant-Ewing Coliseum Saturday afternoon. Sophomore James White posted his third career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
MONROE, La. – UALR pulled as close as six in the second half, but a cold-shooting night prevented the Trojans (12-14, 7-7 SBC) from getting any closer as ULM (8-12, 5-7 SBC) pulled away for a 65-49 win at Fant-Ewing Coliseum Saturday afternoon. Sophomore James White posted his third career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
“We struggled to get going offensively,” said head coach Steve Shields following the loss. “Defensively, I thought we were good enough in the first half. We held them to 24 points, but we scored just 13 in the first half. We weren’t strong enough with the basketball inside. We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and I just felt like we never got any rhythm going offensively.”
UALR shot just 31.0 percent for the game (18 of 58), including 23.1 percent from 3-point range (3 of 13) while going 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) from the foul line. The Trojans finished the night with a 39-38 edge in rebounding, including a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. White led the team with five offensive boards.
ULM outscored UALR 30-14 in points in the paint and connected on 14 of 26 foul shots.
Junior Ben Dillard led the Trojans with 14 points in 27 minutes. Sophomore Josh Hagins and freshman Maurius Hill scored nine points each. Hagins added six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
ULM began the game on an 8-0 run, and UALR didn’t score its first bucket until Hill got loose inside at the 16:38 mark of the first half. The Trojans pulled within two on a couple of occasions in the first half, the last coming when White scored inside to make it 12-10 with 6:15 to play in the half. From there, the Warhawks scored six unanswered as part of a 12-3 run to close the half and make it 24-13 heading into intermission.
The Trojans pulled within six on a free throw by Hill that made it 39-33 with12:02 to play. That would be as tight as UALR would make the margin, as ULM scored 10 straight points to make it 49-33 with 8:49 to play. UALR got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Tylor Ongwae led ULM with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Jayon James flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
The Warhawks shot 44.2 percent (23 of 52) from the field in the contest.
The Trojans will have Thursday off and return to action on Saturday when they face UT Arlington at the Jack Stephens Center at 7 p.m. Members of the Sun Belt Conference staff will make the trip to Little Rock for its stop on the #NOLABound Tailgate Tour.
