Shots were fired from both sides throughout the night but UT-Arlington eventually outdueled the Warhawks by a score of 85-74, Thursday in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The Mustangs shot at a higher percentage all game long. They boasted a shooting percentage of nearly 50 percent in both halves.
“They were better than us on that end tonight. That puts a lot of pressure on us because then we have to go try and outscore them and we couldn’t do that as well,” said Warhawk head coach Keith Richard.
Lonnie McClanahan sliced and diced his way past the ULM defense on a consistent basis. His speed and touch around the basket proved to be too much.
“He’s a driver. Everybody knows he’s a driver. Everybody devises a defense to play his wise and he still gets it done,” said Richard.
Tylor Ongwae once again led the offensive attack for the home team by putting up 24 points and five rebounds. This performance marked Ongwae’s 12th time of the season to lead the team in scoring and it was also the seventh game this season that he scored at least 20 points.
Both squads shot 33 percent from the three point line. UTA always found a way to make the timely basket to doom the Warhawks.
Post play was also a deciding factor. ULM was on the lower end of the rebounding total. UTA’s stingy play hauled in 40 rebounds for the team. Thirteen rebounds were on the offensive end which allowed for second chance shots for the Mustangs.
“We tried to play a little zone and you give up some offensive rebounds with that. We got in some droughts and that hurt us,” said Richard.
After tapping into the Warhawk bench early in the second half, the UTA lead was lessened but never overcome.
“We tried to get in some guys that could maybe knock down some shots and we did get some,” said Richard.
The Warhawks took down UALR 65-49 on Saturday. Next up for the Warhawks is a trip to Atlanta to take on Georgia State.
