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The Hawkeye

The Student News Site of University of Louisiana Monroe

The Hawkeye

The Student News Site of University of Louisiana Monroe

The Hawkeye

Men’s basketball jumps past Centenary in season opener

Photo by Siddharth Gaulee
Photo by Siddharth Gaulee

The Men’s basketball team hit the court for the first time this season Friday afternoon against Centenary College. The team would rely on new faces on the squad to gain a 96-63 victory.

The Warhawks found key plays in shooting from guard Jordan Harris who connected for 23 points. Harris had 20 of those points in the first half.

“Jordan Harris shot it really well in the first half. Coming out of junior college, he had a strong three- point shooting reputation but hasn’t shown that in practice. It’s encouraging to see that today,” said men’s head basketball coach Keith Richard.

With the margin of the score being close through the first couple minutes of the game, ULM came out of a media timeout under 16 minutes and took control of the game.

Going on a 13-0 run in this time span helped the team jump out to an 18-point lead before halftime, and they never looked back in the rearview mirror.

The Warhawks also had help from familiar faces on the team. Senior Nick Coppola was one of those veteran players who tallied 14 points followed by sophomore Travis Munnings who finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Coach Richard was pleased with the performance by his team on Friday afternoon but still found areas he thinks they could work on.

“Defensively, I thought we did pretty well in the first half, but it is still going to be a work in progress in each game. But it was encouraging to see positives today,” Richard said.

In the second half of the game, the Warhawks turned on cruise control and let the game play out in their favor.

After head coach Richard’s son came into the game and drained a three-pointer, the clock ran out and the Warhawks took the game by a final score of 96-63.

The win on Friday marked the fourth straight home opener win for the Warhawks and they are now 48-18 all-time in home openers.

the Warhawks finished the day shooting 54 percent from the floor and only sank 12 of their 29 attempted three-pointers.

The basketball team will now hit the road for the Legends Classic this week where they will face the University of Texas, University of Colorado and Seattle.

After the Legend’s Classic, the Warhawks will return home on Monday, November 28 to face the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks at 7 p.m. in Fant- Ewing Coliseum.

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