Georgia Southern, ULM Big Winners in Sun Belt Play Saturday Night

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (10-5, 4-0 Sun Belt) had the night off Saturday, but the rest of the league was in action. Of the five games played, three were won by the home team. Georgia Southern and UL Monroe were the big road winners.

UL MONROE 62, TEXAS STATE 59—In San Marcos, ULM jumped out to an early lead and withstood a second half Texas State rally to beat the Bobcats 62-59 at Strachan Coliseum.

The Warhawks (9-6, 3-1 Sun Belt) won their third straight game and never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a fourteen point lead and led by ten, 31-21 at the half, holding the Bobcats to just 21 percent shooting in the first half.

But Texas State (9-5, 3-2) rallied to tie the game at 50 with just under five minutes left. ULM’s Tyler Ongwae then took over, scoring five straight points to give ULM the lead for good. Marvin Williams led ULM with 18 points on 9-9 shooting. Ongwae scored 17 points, including a perfect 9-9 from the firee throw line.

The win gave the Warhawks a two game sweep of their Texas swing. Texas State lost after winning their previous two games against Georgia State and UALR, both in double overtime.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 81, SOUTH ALABAMA 73---In Mobile, Georgia Southern used an 11-3 run In the second half to take the lead for good and withstood a South Alabama rally to defeat the Jaguars at the Mitchell Center.

The run came with the Jaguars leading 48-46 five minutes into the second half. The Jaguars closed to within one point 61-60 but could never recapture the lead.

Jelani Hewitt scored 22 points for Georgia Southern (10-3, 3-1 Sun Belt), shooting 5-11 from the field, including three from beyond the three point line. The Eagles shot 53% from the field in the win. Ken Williams scored 23 in a losing effort for South Alabama (4-11, 2-3) which saw its two game conference winning streak snapped.

GEORGIA STATE 77, TROY 72---In Atlanta, R. J. Hunter scored 37 points, including 15-17 from the free throw line as Georgia State won a nip and tuck game against Troy Saturday afternoon. The Panthers snapped a two game losing streak with the win.

Hunter shot 9-20 from the field and notched four triples in leading the Panthers, who played without senior Ryan Harrow who was nursing a toe injury. Musa Abdul-Aleem was nearly as impressive for Troy(6-7, 1-3), scoring 33 points and hitting seven triples. Troy hit 13 shots from beyond the arc in the game.

The game was back and forth in the second half, with the lead changing hands 13 times. Clinging to a one point lead, Georgia State (10-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) got a layup from reserve guard Isaiah Dennis with 1:23 left to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the second half, 71-68. The Panthers made their free throws in the final minute to notch the five point win.

ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 64, APPALACHIAN STATE 46—In Little Rock, Roger Woods scored fifteen points and notched six rebounds to lead UALR to the easy win over Appalachian State. Thirteen of Woods’ points came after intermission.

Shooting from the field told the story as UALR (6-9, 1-4 Sun Belt) shot 51 percent from the field, while holding the Mountaineers (4-9, 1-3) to just 30 percent from the floor in the game. Gus Leeper came off the bench to score twelve points for the Trojans, who snapped a four game losing streak with the win. Appalachian State lost its third straight game.

UT ARLINGTON 77, ARKANSAS STATE 50—At the College Park Center in Arlington, UT Arlington rolled out to a 20 point halftime lead and coasted to a 77-50 win over Arkansas State, sending the staggering Red Wolves to their fourth straight loss.

UTA (9-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) got balanced scoring in the game with four players scoring in double figures, led by Johnny Hill’s 14 points. Greg Gainey scored 13 points, Lonnie McCanahan added 12 while Kevin Hervey chipped in eleven.

The Mavericks took control early, jumping out to a 21-8 lead and held the Red Wolves to just 20.7 percent shooting in the first half. The Mavericks led by as many as 30 points in the second half.

Sean Gardner was the only player in double figures for Arkansas State, scoring 16 points. The Red Wolves were just 6-27 from three point range in the game.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE STANDINGS

LOUISIANA 4-0 10-5

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 3-1 10-3

UL MONROE 3-1 9-6

TEXAS STATE 3-2 9-5

GEORGIA STATE 3-2 10-6

UT ARLINGTON 3-2 9-6

SOUTH ALABAMA 2-3 4-11

TROY 1-3 6-7

APPALACHIAN STATE 1-3 4-9

ARKANSAS STATE 1-4 6-8

UALR 1-4 6-9