UALR pulled as close as six points in the second half, but cold shooting prevented the Trojans from getting any closer as Louisiana-Monroe pulled away for a 65-49 victory Saturday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, La.
Sophomore James White posted his third career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
“We struggled to get going offensively,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said. “ Defensively, I thought we were good enough in the first half. We held them to 24 points, but we scored just 13 in the first half. We weren’t strong enough with the basketball inside. We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and I just felt like we never got any rhythm going offensively.”
UALR (12-14, 7-7 Sun Belt Conference) shot 31.0 percent (18 of 58), including 23.1 percent from three-point range (3 of 13) while going 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) from the foul line.
Louisiana-Monroe (8-12, 5-7) outscored UALR 30-14 in points in the paint.
Junior Ben Dillard led the Trojans with 14 points in 27 minutes. Sophomore Josh Hagins and freshman Maurius Hill scored nine points each. Hagins added 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Louisiana-Monroe began the game on an 8-0 run, and UALR didn’t score its first bucket until Hill got loose inside at the 16:38 mark of the first half. The Trojans pulled within two twice in the first half, the last coming when White scored inside to make it 12-10 with 6:15 to play. From there, the Warhawks scored six consecutive as part of a 12-3 run to close the half and make it 24-13 heading into halftime.
The Trojans pulled within 39-33 on a free throw by Hill with 12:02 to play. That would be as close as UALR would make it, as the Warhawks scored 10 consecutive points to make it 49-33 with 8:49 to play. UALR got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Tylor Ongwae led Louisiana-Monroe with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting.
Jayon James finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.
The Warhawks shot 44.2 percent (23 of 52) from the field.
Sports, Pages 26 on 02/16/2014