Warhawks split pair of road games in Texas

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Men’s basketball took to the road this past week and was able to end their road woes against Texas State and fought to the end in a barnburner against Texas-Arlington. ULM defeated Texas State, 63-60, and lost to Texas-Arlington in double overtime, 91-86.

The Warhawks are now 14-12 on the season and 7-7 in the Sun Belt and currently sixth in the Sun Belt standings with only four games left in the regular season. ULM will come back home and take on Appalachian State on Thursday and Coastal Carolina on Saturday.

The loss has potential Sun Belt Conference championship standing implications as the Warhawks would have passed the Mustangs with a win. However, ULM remained in sixth place.

The Warhawks have struggled on the road this season, but ULM was able to reverse the curse and defeat Texas State on Thursday.

“It was a physical game,” said Keith Richard, head coach. “The refs let the teams play on both ends of the floor. It became a tough-man’s game and we haven’t won a lot of those games. This was a great road win for us [against Texas State] and the road woes are officially over in conference play.”

It took a team effort to take down the Bobcats. Both Michael Ertel and Travis Munnings ended the night with 13 points. JD Williams scored 11 points and Andre Washington recorded 10 points.

ULM shot well during the game and recorded 49 percent from the field. However, the Warhawks only shot 33 percent on 3-pointers.

“It took a courageous effort by our team to play that brand of basketball on both ends of the floor,” Richard said.

“Our players did a great job on offense and defense,” Richard said.

ULM stayed in Texas to take on Texas-Arlington on Saturday. The game ended after two overtimes and gave the Warhawks another road loss.

Daishon Smith stole the show with 34 points and was almost perfect on free throws. However, Smith missed two key free throws in the first overtime that allowed Texas-Arlington to regain the momentum and force a second overtime.

Ertel recorded 22 points, Williams had 12 points and Munnings ended with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Ertel also missed a key shot at the end of the first overtime as time expired that would have given the Warhawks the win.

The Warhawks had a tough day shooting the ball and it showed. The team only shot 39 percent from the field and 29 percent on 3-pointers.

The road to New Orleans has four games left and the Warhawks will look to make the most of them.