Jalen Bolden’s fast-break dunk with

3:48 remaining in the second half broke

the century mark for ULM in the 2022-

23 home opener. He was one of seven

Warhawks to score double-digit points

on Thursday in ULM’s 111-59 victory

over Dallas Christian.

While Bolden’s unassisted basket

bumped the scoreboard to triple digits,

the massive lead was built by generous

passing by him and his teammates.

ULM’s 32 assists were the most dished

out by the Warhawks this century. ULM

lacked just two more assists from tying

the school record set in 1996.

The win evened out the Warhawks’

record at 1-1 after they lost in their

season opener to Texas A&M earlier last

week. ULM has a game against NAIA

school Central Baptist at home before

facing off with No. 14 TCU on Thursday.

Head coach Keith Richard said after

the game that he wanted his team to

“gain a little confidence” at a point

in the schedule where the Warhawks

are sandwiched between two Power 5

opponents

“We needed a feel-good game,” Richard

said.

Anyone would be hard-pressed to find

something the Warhawks couldn’t feel

good about in the 52-point win over the

Crusaders. Tyreke Locure’s 3-pointer

just 65 seconds into the game gave ULM

the lead that lasted for the remainder of

the game. Locure’s 19 points cemented

himself as the team’s leading scorer. He

shot an efficient 8-of-13 on the night.

Richard said the team’s 54% shooting

from the field impressed him and

showed improvement from their

shooting slump against Texas A&M. His

team also connected on 14 of their 33

3-point attempts, firing off from beyond

the arc at 42% shooting.

Crusader mistakes turned into

Warhawk opportunities time after time.

But out of ULM’s 36 points scored off

of turnovers, none were more jawdropping

than the basket scored in the

final seconds of the first half.

Jamari Blackmon dove onto a loose

ball near midcourt and threw it past

a Crusader defender to find Nika

Metskhvarishvili. The towering forward

lobbed it up to fellow forward Thomas

Howell who took the alley-oop slam

in for two points as time expired in

the half. Howell’s dunk let him and his

teammates walk into the locker room

with a comfortable 35-point lead.

After some Crusader resistance to start

the second half trimmed ULM’s lead to

29 points, the Warhawks locked up on

defense and built up to a 49-point lead

with a 20-point run that spanned nearly

six minutes.