NEW ORLEANS — The UALR men’s basketball team is headed back to the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans used an 18-4 run to start the second half to erase a five-point halftime deficit and take control in a 70-50 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in Sunday’s Sun Belt Tournament championship game at Lakefront Arena.
Now the Trojans (29-4) don’t have to worry about justifying their program-best win total for the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Trojans will get the Sun Belt’s automatic bid. The opponent, date and site of the first-round game will be revealed at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
It will be the Trojans fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, first since 2011 and second since 1990.
Roger Woods scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 14 points, Kemy Osse had 12 and Jalen Jackson had 11 for the Trojans, who outscored the Warhawks 42-17 in the second half.
Jackson and Woods each scored 7 points in the first nine minutes of the second half in a 20-8 run that put the Trojans up 48-41 with 11:18 left.
The Warhawks (20-13), who scored the most points against UALR all season in an 86-82 victory on Feb. 11, missed their first six shots from the field in the second half and were 4 of 15 after Johnson hit a three-pointer to put the Trojans up 53-42 with 8:06 left.
Justin Roberson had 17 points for the Warhawks, Demondre Harvey had 10 and Majok Deng had 12, but only five after halftime.
The Warhawks finished the second half on a 16-7 run and made 5 of their last 6 shots to take a 33-28 lead. But the Trojans forced stops on the first five possessions of the second half to take control they never gave back.