Warhawks drop 2 straight games to SEC teams

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Miles Jordan, [email protected]

After opening the season on a two-game winning streak, the Warhawks would fall in consecutive games to SEC opponents, Texas A&M and Mississippi State.

To open the week, ULM went to College Station to play the Aggies falling, 63-57.

Later in the week ULM went into Starkville losing 62-45.

ULM will have an opportunity to stay undefeated next Wednesday in Fant-Ewing against Northwestern State.

“We felt like we had a chance to win,” ULM head coach Keith Richard said. “To beat an SEC team on their homecourt, you’re going to have to play well, and we played well for a lot of the game but not enough of it.”

The first half was the half for the Warhawks as after going down 11-4, ULM stormed back to take a 30-22 lead at half.

A deep three-pointer from Michael Ertel would give the Warhawks all the momentum.

Ertel and JD Williams again lead the Warhawks, combining for 40 of the Warhawks 57.

Ertel added nine rebounds and six of the Warhawks eight three pointers to his stat line.

On the defensive end, Dadou Traore came up big blocking six shots.

“We had seven blocked shots and Dadou (Traore) had six of them. We were doing everything we could do in the paint. We did our best to try and stop them from getting in there. Any time we slipped up and didn’t collapse in there, then they’d score a layup,” Richard said.

The aggressiveness would bite the Warhawks in the second half, as the Aggies made their comeback on the strength of the three-pointer.

Jay Jay Chandler was the catalyst for Texas A&M as after a Youry White dunk put the Warhawks up 10, Chandler went on an 8-0 run by himself.

Ertel though would slow the comeback momentarily, hitting three straight threes to stretch the lead once more.

The Aggies would hit yet another three, this one from Quenton Jackson.

Jackson shot would begin a 14-0 run that proved to be too much for the Warhawks who went scoreless for 7:36.

The upset spirit could not be replicated against Mississippi State as the Warhawk offense struggled for the majority of the game, shooting 35% from the field, 31% from three and 33% from the free throw line.

Also, similarly to the game against Texas A&M, the Warhawks struggled to not turn the ball over, coughing it up 17 times after 20 against the Aggies.

“It’s hard doing a lot of things on offense, except throwing the ball inside a little bit. As we worked our way through the game, it’s kind of the only thing that we could really do to get inside,” Richard said.

Center Chris Efretuei was the inside presence for the Warhawks scoring a season-high 10 pointers.

Efretuei would be the only Warhawk on the night to shoot better than 50 % while taking more than one shot.