NEW ORLEANS -- Arkansas State University never could get a handle on its first-round game against Louisiana-Monroe in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday in Lakefront Arena.
The Red Wolves had a chance to advance after Donte Thomas made a steal with the score tied 60-60 with 13 seconds left in regulation.
After a timeout, Thomas penetrated and passed back to Rashad Lindsey, who had an open three-pointer. But Lindsey missed, and so did Deven Simms after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Then it was off to overtime, where the No. 12 seed Warhawks scored 10 of the first 12 points on their way to a 73-70 victory.
"We got a pretty good look," ASU Coach Grant McCasland said about the final shot in regulation.
But as happened throughout the game, the No. 5 seed Red Wolves were just a little off as they dropped to 20-12. They'll wait to see whether they get a postseason opportunity to add more victories to their record-tying regular-season total.
Louisiana-Monroe (9-23) had lost twice to the Red Wolves in the regular season, falling 76-45 on Jan. 2 in Jonesboro and 73-63 on Jan. 28 in Monroe. The Redhawks advanced to play No. 4 Texas State in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Friday.
"They beat us to all the loose balls that we're supposed to get," said Thomas, one of two seniors along with Devin Carter, on the Red Wolves, before his emotions got the better of him.
ASU fell behind by nine points early in the first half but battled back to take a 37-28 halftime lead.
The second half started a lot like the first, as the Redhawks scored the first nine points to pull even.
"All we talked about at halftime was the fact that we shot 34 percent because we couldn't score around the rim," Louisiana-Monroe Coach Keith Richard said. "We were outscored 20-10 in the paint, and our half-court defense was very good.
"We shot 48 percent in the second half because we made plays around the rim. That took them out of transition and made it a half-court game, which is what we needed it to be. It's the reason we won."
And one of the reasons the Red Wolves lost was their free-throw shooting, which was an issue all season. They made just 10 of 22 (45.5 percent), which was worse than their 64 percent for the season.
"That's been a story all year," McCasland said. "It has been a point of emphasis. Ten out 22 in a close basketball game isn't going to do it.
"It does get contagious. One guy misses, and you start hoping not to miss instead of expecting to make it. We had our chances."
ASU rebuilt a 50-43 lead midway through the second half, but Louisiana-Monroe kept attacking and producing offensively.
Nick Coppola, who scored 14 of his team-high 15 points after halftime, made two three-pointers and converted a three-point play as the Warhawks took a 56-54 lead with 3:14 left. The Red Wolves never led again.
Simms made a layup to tie the score, and after Louisiana-Monroe's Prince Cooper untied it with a short jumper, Tamas Bruce tied it 58-58 on a layup with 2:20 left.
Sam Alabakis' layup gave the Warhawks another lead with a minute left before Thomas scored the final points of regulation on a drive with 40 seconds remaining.
Alabakis scored 14 points, Marvin Jean-Pierre had 12, and Travis Munnings and Marcus Washington had 11 apiece for the Warhawks.
Thomas scored a game-high 22, Simms and Bruce scored 15 each, and Devin Carter scored 10 for the Red Wolves. Bruce added a game-high 11 rebounds.
"We had ups and downs," Simms said in describing ASU's season. "More ups than downs."
Richard said he was confident ASU would find itself in another tournament somewhere.
McCasland, though, spoke with finality about the disappointment of seeing the season end abruptly. But when asked moments later whether some tournament other than the NCAA Tournament might be a possibility, he wouldn't rule it out.
"You put your heart into winning this tournament and getting into the NCAA Tournament," McCasland said. "That's the only conversation we've had. Now that we're in this position, we'll look at other options."
At a glance
FIRST ROUND
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Coastal Carolina 80, South Alabama 67
La.-Monroe 73, Arkansas State 70 La.-Lafayette 78, UALR 71
Troy 84, Appalachian State 64
QUARTERFINALS
FRIDAY’S GAMES — All times Central
Texas-Arlington vs. C. Carolina, 11:30 a.m. Texas State vs. La.-Monroe, 2 p.m. Georgia State vs. La.-Lafayette, 5 p.m. Georgia Southern vs. Troy, 7:30 p.m.
Sports on 03/09/2017