Losing to South Alabama made ULM men’s basketball enter the Sun Belt Tournament earlier than it wanted, and a loss to Coastal Carolina sent the Warhawks home just the same. Despite Tyreese Watson’s career-high 22 points, the Warhawks dropped the tournament’s first round 75-71.
In the first half, 3-pointers painted the difference between the two teams, with the Chanticleers sinking 7-of-10 while the Warhawks only made 3-of-11. After both schools exchanged shots beyond the arc, ULM ran ahead to a 7-3 lead.
CCU scored 12 points in a run only interrupted by a layup by Watson. The Chanticleers held the lead for the rest of the half and never allowed the Warhawks to get closer than 7 points behind. With eight minutes left in the first half, CCU went on another run to pull ahead by 13 points, the largest lead of the game.
The Warhawks continued to chip away at their deficit. While a late 3-pointer by Tyreke Locure and a free-throw by Jacob Wilson showed promise to tie the game, missed shots closer to the buzzer kept both teams scoreless in the final minute. CCU led 38-29 as both teams entered the locker rooms for halftime.
ULM outscored CCU in the second half 42-37, but the damage done in the first half put the Warhawks in too deep of a scoring hole to overcome.
The Warhawks entered the second half running and opened with a 7-point scoring run getting within two points of the lead. A foul by CCU’s Henry Abraham brought ULM to the line where Makai Willis made both of his free-throws to give ULM the lead.
The skirmish for control lasted another five minutes as neither team held onto a lead for long. A layup by CCU’s Kevin Easley in the seventh minute gave the Chanticleers the lead for the final time of the night.
With a minute to go, ULM came within two scores of the Chanticleers. Both teams fouled to regain the ball and drive the lead, but CCU came out on top when the clock hit double zeros.
The Warhawks record another first-round exit in the Sun Belt Tournament. Their most recent trip beyond the first round happened in 2019 when ULM also recorded an 80-50 win over the Chanticleers to advance to the quarterfinals.
