The men’s basketball team is coning off of a home sweep over Little Rock (97-84) and Arkansas State (85-75) to open Sun Belt Conference play and the Warhawks have won six of their last seven games overall.

ULM (9-5, 2-0) was on a two-game road swing before playing Georgia Southern (9-6, 1-1). Unfortunately, the Warhawks suffered a tough loss against the Eagles, 79-78, stemming from a fourth quarter burst in the last 15 minutes of play.

The pace of the game was in ULM’s hands as they held an 11 point lead heading into the second half. Guard Michael Ertel assisted the Warhawks with 18 first-half points and finished with 7-of-10 total field goal attempts including four three-pointers. The leading scorer for the Warhawks, Daishon Smith, scored 27 points in 36 minutes, shooting around 50 percent from the field.    

As a whole, the Warhawks shot 15-of-30 from the floor in the opening half, including 8-of-16 three-pointers.

Offensive hiccups and defensive miscommunication affected ULM’s downfall in the second half.

“I was really disappointed in some of our second-half offense. We struggled because our offense stalled at times,” head coach Keith Richard said.

Richard additionally labeled turnovers a major component that contributed to the loss. 

“We had 16 [turnovers] total; eight in each half,” Richard said.

Coach Richard mentioned the lack of double digit scorers in this game and the difficulty it presents to compete against other Sun Belt conference competition. The only Warhawks to score in the double digits were Ertel and Smith.

“We’ve got to find a way to get Travis (Munnings) going,” Richard added.

The Warhawks followed up their heartbreaker with another stinging loss coming from Georgia State. ULM (9-6, 2-1) concluded its Sun Belt road swing at Georgia State (12-4, 3-0). 

The Warhawks surged in the final quarter. However, Georgia State sealed the deal, winning the game 74-73.