ULM head coach, Keith Richard, and Texas Southern head coach, Johnny Jones, were teammates on an AAU basketball team in 1977. Forty-two years later, their teams went head-to-head in an instant classic.
It took Texas Southern three overtimes to finally put down the Warhawks, 108-102. The win allows the Tigers to advance to the semifinal of the CIT while ULM’s season finally comes to an end.
The loss gives the Warhawks a season record of 19-16 and coach Richard was able to sum the game up pretty well.
“We went down in a blaze of fire, didn’t we?” Richard said. “What a game in terms of the action. It’s a shame somebody had to lose in that game.”
ULM hit a road block early when the team missed four shots in a row a minute into the game. The Warhawks followed that up by missing their first six 3-pointers.
However, a 3-pointer by Michael Ertel and an alley-oop dunk by JD Williams got ULM back on the right track. A free throw by Tyree White allowed the Warhawks to gain their first lead of the night.
The Warhawks held the upper hand going into halftime. However, ULM was in for the fight of their life.
ULM was able to control the second half until Texas Southern tied the game at 72 with two minutes left. In a furious race to the end, the Warhawks and the Tigers left regulation tied at 74.
An exhausted ULM team fell early in the first overtime before rallying behind local DJ, BJ Bell, and the Fant-Ewing crowd. With four seconds left, Ertel took the ball down the court, lost the ball, regained control and shot a desperation 3-pointer that went in as time expired. The crowd was in shock. A second overtime was ahead.
Again, ULM fell behind again in the second overtime before rallying behind well-timed timeouts and a high-energy crowd. The Warhawks tied the game again as time expired which lead to a third overtime.
Texas Southern jumped out again to start the third overtime. ULM came within six before a no-look pass from Andre Washington went out-of-bounds. This signaled the end.
The instant classic wasn’t how ULM wanted to end the season, but it won’t be forgotten soon by Warhawk fans and will go down in history as one of the best games.